Europe's last dictatorship
by lavenderghost
Summary: Belarus's reputation is starting to catch up on her, with her erratic behaviour becoming increasingly intolerable by both her family and the Western allies, she starts to find herself isolated as the situation deteriorates. Unless she can change and reform the world may leave her behind.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey all! This is my first story on Hetalia and I've only very recently gotten into the franchise but I hope you can enjoy this story :) _

...

England sat across from _her_. They were in a small room inside the world meeting building with only a tiny table and two uncomfortable wooden chairs. England shuffled in his chair slightly as he could barely make out the writing on the newspaper with the poor lighting. The lighting needed to be poor so he could frighten her, problem was that she didn't seem afraid of him in the slightest, in fact, she looked bored. She just sat there playing with her nails or her clothes, occasionally sparing a glance up at either him or the room but no longer than a couple of seconds. Did she not realise how serious this was? Either he was losing his touch, very unlikely, or this girl was as brave and crazy as they said, much more likely.

England flung the newspaper across the table at her. "Read it and tell me what you think," he said calmly.

England saw her eyes move across the page after she lazily picked up the paper. "All of it?" She asked.

"No, no, just the title will be adequate," England shook his head. She sighed and dropped the paper back on the table. "I meant aloud," He leaned forward to try and intimidate her, it didn't seem to work though and the look she sent back at him actually made him feel uneasy.

"_British journalist shot dead by Belarus police_," she said like a school girl being told off.

England felt a flash of anger that she could be so relaxed when speaking of the death of one of his own citizens. "What do you think of it?" He asked, struggling not to reveal how she was making him feel.

"A misunderstanding," she replied.

"What kind of misunderstanding leaves one of my people dead?" England felt his voice begin to rise.

"A terrorist one, he was going to give information to terrorist groups which threatened my dear president," she replied now keeping eye contact for the first time.

"Oh, 'terrorist groups' so that's what you call the opposition, is it?" England slammed his fist on the table.

She hissed and was on her feet in the blink of an eye. She slammed both her palms on the table which made England recoil slightly. "You! After all your years of imperial tyranny, you think you can lecture _me_ about how to treat people! Who are you anyway? You never cared about me, you never even knew I existed, to me you're just a far off country whose time has passed and now you're just America's lackey," she hissed once again and stormed from the room.

"Well that could have gone better," England muttered to himself after a few moments. He grabbed the newspaper so he could work on the crosswords later, or maybe try some of that new strange Sudoku stuff.

England left the room contemplating how best to handle the situation with Belarus. "That sounded painful," a deep German voice said from next to him.

England looked around to find Germany leaning against the wall in his formal attire. "You heard that then?" England asked his friend.

Germany nodded and walked over, England couldn't help but notice how tall Germany was compared to him, then again everyone was tall compared to him. It was a wonder a nation as small as he was could be so strong. "If it helps, I condemn Belarus's actions," Germany said.

"Thanks," England muttered, he knew Germany had no choice but to condemn on England's behalf but it still meant something. They'd had differences in the past but now England was sure he could count on Germany as one of his closest friends.

"So what really happened?" Germany asked.

"I'm still trying to piece it all together," England replied. "But Belarus has murdered one of my people to protect her dictatorship from scrutiny, I'm sure of it, if Russia wasn't protecting her I swear I'd show her a thing or two," England said darkly.

Germany sighed, "I understand your position but Belarus is unstable, both the country and the girl's mind."

"Wait, are you saying I should just do nothing?" England gaped at his friend.

"I'm saying that if you put too much pressure on her, she will snap and Russia doesn't take kindly to those who hurt his family," Germany said calmly.

"I don't have to stand for this bull you bloody kraut!" England released the built up anger he had with Belarus on Germany. "Russia or not, she cannot get away with this!"

"Just don't do anything rash, you're starting to sound like America," Germany said, looking legitimately concerned.

"You're right," England said suddenly snapping back to his gentlemanly demeanor. "It's just difficult to know what to do."

"I know," Germany nodded. "I'm not sure if I should hug you for comfort now."

"Don't," England replied quickly.

"Good, I hate hugging. But you should know that Belarus's time is running out," Germany told him.

"What do you mean?"

"She's the last place in Europe with a dictatorship, Russia and Ukraine may have issues in that sense but Belarus is truly insane. How long can a dictatorship last surrounded by democracies?" Germany said matter of factly.

"I suppose you'd know all about that," England smiled and Germany rolled his eyes. England could never resist taunting Germany about his dark past. "Anyway we should stop talking about this now, there's other stuff going on in the world as well, like what are you doing here anyway?" England suddenly realised that as there were no meetings he was aware of at the moment aside from him and Belarus.

"Actually I'm here to get away from Greece, he keeps asking for money but gets annoyed if I tell him how best to spend it," Germany looked over his shoulder. "He's not here is he?" England shook his head and Germany breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is why I don't get too involved in your little union," England said.

Germany groaned, "This again?"

…

Belarus swore loudly as she marched out of the large grey building. She looked over at the flag poles of all nations, her own flag was just one in a sea of different coloured ones while the flag of the UK seemed to fly majestically above the others. _That's how he sees me, _Belarus snorted, _Just another nobody he can push around, I'll show him, I'll really push his buttons and there won't be a thing he can do because he cares what the international courts say about him. _Belarus smiled at the idea of England stuttering, red in the face as she walked all over him. _Why do I even care?_ She asked herself, _I have more important things to think about._ She pulled out a small phone like devise from one of her dress pockets. After pressing a few touch screen buttons a map and large flashing red dot appeared on screen. She chuckled to herself, "I am coming, dearest brother." However when she looked closer at the map it seemed her brother was much closer than expected, in fact it was almost as though…

"Hello sister!" A voice which made every inch of her shiver with excitement.

"My brother! You came to find me, I always feel as though it is me chasing you!" She shrieked with happiness.

Russia stood with that same grin he always had but once Belarus moved to hug him it was replaced by an expression of uncertainty as he tentatively returned her embrace. "I have come to see you for a reason, my sweet sister."

"Marriage?" She asked eagerly and began to bounce up and down on the spot.

Russia gave a nervous laugh and shook his head. "I would like to talk to you about England."

Belarus stopped bouncing and immediately scowled at her brother. "What about him?" She spat.

Russia cringed at her tone slightly. "Once you get to know him, he is not so bad."

Belarus continued to stare down her big brother. "It was not so long ago that you would tell me every day how mean England and his friends were, if they could they'd do to me what they did to poor Korea and brainwash me against you."

"I know but things are different now," Russia said, "we are all friends here."

"I heard England and his friends talking once about how they wanted to hurt you," Belarus protested.

"And I wanted to hurt them," Russia shrugged, "but things are different now, maybe little sister needs to grow up?"

At those words Belarus snapped. "Grow up!?" She shouted.

Russia took several steps backward, holding up his hands in self-defence. "Please I didn't mean it! Just don't hurt me!"

Belarus grabbed her dress and ran off yelling back at her brother. "I could never forgive those who have wronged you, even if you have forgotten it!"


	2. Chapter 2

"OK, gang! I've called you all here because my good buddy England is really sad about stuff," America addressed the room. He'd invited anyone from Europe but made sure he was extra polite to anyone close to Belarus so they could come and help him out, after all who could say no to America? "I just want to say thanks for coming and stuff and how cool it is to finally chair a meeting again woo." America pumped his fist in the air and looked over the selection of nations. They were all staring blankly at him, America was sure he heard a cricket chirping.

"Get off the stage!" He heard England yell from somewhere in the group.

"Hey man, I've organized this to help you and if you don't want my help you can just go," America said, feeling confident that he'd shown England what for. He didn't expect England to get up and move for the door. "Aw no, come back man! We're gonna sort this shit out, I promise."

England paused at the door, "I'm listening."

"We need to make this chick realize she can't do this to my sidekick!" America declared grandly.

England groaned, "You don't even know when you do it."

"Do what?" America cocked his head.

"I'm not your sidekick."

"Every great hero needs a sidekick."

"When you two are done," France said loudly.

"Sorry," the two nations said quietly.

"America, do you have any thoughts on what to do at all?" Austria asked.

"Errrr, well that's why I called this meeting," he shrugged.

"Maybe we should try economic sanctions?" Germany suggested.

"Hmm and if that doesn't work then BAM, America's freedom fighters come knocking!" America struck a dramatic pose. "Great plan Germany!"

"I do not like this idea at all," Russia spoke for the first time since the meeting began.

"No, it's far too hasty," Lithuania agreed.

"So what do you guys think we should do then?" America asked them.

The two Eastern European countries looked at one another and Russia shrugged, "We don't know…" Lithuania said quietly.

"Well this is looking like a great help everyone, really fantastic," England slowly clapped from the doorway.

"Look, everyone is here to help and support you, England. I'm starting to feel you don't appreciate all the nice things I'm doing for you," America huffed.

"Fine but I don't know why I bother," England muttered and folded his arms as he leant back against the wall.

"Have we considered that the journalist was in the wrong?" Ukraine asked.

"Impossible," England angrily snapped back at her.

Ukraine seemed slightly taken back by his attitude. "I would just like to give my sister the benefit of a doubt first," she said uncertainly while Russia and Lithuania nodded with approval.

"So she is the victim according to you!?" England leaned forward looking aghast.

"I'm not suggesting you or your people are at fault here-" Ukraine began,

"Too bloody right you're not," England muttered.

"-but maybe this was an accident or maybe just this one journalist was dodgy," Ukraine said sheepishly, "I don't mean to offend you," she added.

"Unbelievable," England shook his head.

_I'm losing them, no one is paying any attention to me! _America thought before he banged his gavel on the desk. "Order in my court!" He declared. "Britain, how would you like to resolve this if you had absolute power like I do?"

England paused thoughtfully with his hand on his chin. "What I'd really like would probably count as a war crime," he muttered.

"Sounds awesome!" America beamed at him, at least until he saw Russia's face. "I mean, no, we can't do that, it would be wrong to go to war over something as small as this," America said.

"I know, it's just…" England tensed his fists.

"What if we encourage changes?" Russia asked, "My sister is not a bad person, she just sometimes needs her family to help find her way, then we can all be friends again, da?"

"What kind of change?" England asked.

"Relaxing a bit, she did not mean to hurt you, England, I am sure of it. She was doing what she must have thought was right," Russia smiled.

"That won't bring back one dead citizen," England muttered, "but it's a start, also say I demand an apology immediately."

"I'll make sure of it," Lithuania nodded.

Someone in the room snorted loudly. "This will not work," Poland said as he stood up. "Listen to me, bros, Belarus is crazy, her, her Government, her people, all of them."

Russia's growl echoed through the room and Lithuania visibly flinched from the large country. "That's not a nice thing to say!" Ukraine said.

"It is true," Poland said stubbornly.

"It is not!" Lithuania protested. "She is our friend after all and deserves to be treated as such."

"You're letting your crush blind you, dude," Poland shook his head. "Belarus has done some pretty freaky stuff to me before."

"S-she's not my crush!" Lithuania shouted.

"Everyone shut up and pay attention to me!" America shouted. "Now as Russia and Ukraine know her best I think we should try their idea first."

"Surprising reasonable of you, America," Germany nodded with approval.

"See, it's because I'm awesome!" America gave a toothy smile with a thumbs up. "All those in favor raise your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care."

It was a very strong majority in favour, even England hesitantly raised his arm, only Poland and Italy (who'd fallen asleep) didn't.

"That's it settled then, I declare this meeting over, good luck guys," America announced as he slammed his gavel on his desk twice. "I love doing that," he added with childlike glee.

…

"I've already told you what I thought!" Belarus shrieked.

Russia, Lithuania and Ukraine all cringed. They were the only ones close enough to Belarus or brave enough to visit; of course Lithuania only thought he was close. "Little sister, please listen to me," Russia begged.

"He's right, you weren't at the meeting. England and America seemed happy with the idea of war…" Lithuania warned.

"I'm supposed to afraid of the idiot and his lapdog?" Belarus hissed.

"An idiot whose boss spends more money on the military than Russia, China, Britain, France, Germany and Japan put together," Lithuania shook his finger.

"Exactly why _someone _needs to stand up to them now our old union is shattered," Belarus glared at each of them in turn.

"But I've discovered England and America and all the others aren't really that bad once you get to know them," Ukraine put her arm around Belarus, "they might be a little difficult and odd but they do want what they think is best for the world."

"Best for them more like," Belarus shook Ukraine off her shoulder.

"If we are all to be friends, we must keep one another happy, Belarus. The idea of the west hurting you when you and your economy is already so fragile fills me with sadness," Russia looked into her eyes and Belarus felt the sudden urge to kiss his sweet face.

"Maybe I will do as you ask, brother. On one condition," she said flirtatiously.

Russia scratched his head in confusion as Belarus battered her eye laches. "Not that!" Russia gasped as he caught on.

"Yeah we should find another solution," Lithuania hurriedly pushed the topic along.

"What do you have against social change, sister?" Ukraine asked kindly.

"My boss tells me it upsets order, they'd be riots every day," Belarus shook her head in disgust.

"But there isn't," Ukraine said gently.

"Belarus, it isn't just about what your boss thinks, a nation must also consider what its people think," Lithuania said.

"My people…" Belarus blinked.

"Yeah, what do they say?" Lithuania asked.

"I'm not sure," Belarus shifted uncomfortably.

"Maybe you should see, da?" Russia encouraged her.

Belarus gazed up at her brother's sunny smile, "I will try," she muttered a closed her eyes.

As she focused she could begin to hear their voices, the people of her nation, crying out. They echoed, some loud, some soft and although the words themselves were indistinguishable she understood what they meant. Maybe, just maybe, her family (and Lithuania) might be right.

She let out a small 'huh' once she opened her eyes. "What did you hear?" Ukraine asked.

"I… I should speak to my boss," Belarus said as she grabbed the edges of her dress and ran off.

"That went better than I had hoped," Russia announced happily.

"I wouldn't be so sure…" Lithuania rubbed his chin.

"She seemed very subdued, didn't she?" Ukraine sounded equally concerned.

"Sister Belarus is scary strong, she just needs time," Russia cheerfully chirped.

...

**_A/N: I'm a Brit, I therefor use British spellings instead of Americanized ones, except whenever America himself speaks. So any lack of localised English consistency is probably down to that, as well as only recognising American style spellings (if I want to spell it colour I will damn well spell it colour!)_**

**_Also like to point out that no, I do not own Hetalia and the picture for story was within the public domain and is therefor fair use._**


	3. Chapter 3

Belarus's boss shook his head. "No, no, no," he said quietly. "You're, I'm afraid."

"How so?" Belarus asked.

"Every country has the Government it wants and it needs, I am in power because my people, and yours, want me to be here," he explained.

"I can hear them…" Belarus gazed outside the office window as people walked past doing their daily routine. "For the first time in years I can hear them thinking…" she said in a monotone.

The blinds suddenly closed, jerking Belarus's attention back to her boss who was holding the rope of the blinds while giving her a stern look. "Do they all want me gone?"

"Not all of them but many have their doubts," she said uncertain of how the boss would react.

"As expected, this is the same everywhere. Shall we consider the United States for an example? Voter turnout is only around 50% anyway, of those 50% about half them vote for the other candidate and the victor wins by the smallest margin. So what we have there is the president of the United States being elected by only one quarter of Americans. The same situation can be found across Western democracies be it the British, French, Spanish and so on. That is the democracy they hold onto so dear," Belarus's boss sat back in his leather chair. "Does this seem a fairer system than ours?"

"No, you make it sound the same."

"That is because it is the same," he smiled and nodded. "If the people wanted me out so badly we would have the situations in Libya, Egypt or Syria or even your own brother, Russia, around a century ago. But here I remain and the only explanation is the people want me to remain."

"That makes sense," she said slowly as it all dawned on her. _Of course he was right, I should have let him explain first._

"Why has this bothered you recently, Belarus?" He asked.

Belarus shook her head with a faint smile. "It was my brother and sister and that bastard, they were saying about change and things about the West."

"Russia? I though he was supportive of me?" Belarus watched her give another man in a black suit, who was standing at the back of the room near the door, a puzzled look.

"My brother has always wanted what is best for me, he just doesn't understand how marriage would be best for both of us, not yet anyway," she muttered the last part under her breath.

Her boss was pouring a class of liquor out into a single glass. "What if your brother thinks that getting rid of me would be best for you?"

Belarus found herself caught off guard by the question. She knew what her brother would do, she pictured him enraged and swinging that giant pipe around his head '_For my wife!' _he would shout as the pipe would come smashing down onto her poor boss. Belarus saw her boss was still staring at her, awaiting her reply. She didn't give him one but he knew the answer.

Her boss began to play the glass in his hand. "I always valued the friendship of out Russian partners, our closest allies through thick and thin but this is how I am repaid. Trying to undermine my leadership, putting doubt in my nations mind." He continued to mutter softly for a while causing Belarus to grow increasingly concerned. For a man who had produced coherent and convincing arguments just a moment ago, he now seemed slightly paranoid. "They mentioned the West?"

Belarus nodded, "America and England specifically."

"England? Of course he's going to be kicking up a fuss and America just wants a chance to fight," her boss took a swig from his glass.

"While we're talking about England, what did happen with that reporter?" Belarus asked her boss.

He looked up at her suspiciously. "I told you, that man was going to give valuable information to our enemies which would have destabilised our great nation. I authorised any force necessary to stop him."

The more he spoke the more flustered he became, as soon as he had heard Russian support was not a certainty, Belarus noticed a sudden change in her boss. "But who are our enemies?" She asked, struggling to think of any groups or nation that overtly wished them great harm.

Belarus's boss stood up as he slammed his empty glass on the table. "If you have to ask that, I feel you may be failing your duties to this country. I have long tolerated your… strangeness but if you don't even know the enemies which we fight then I may have no need of you soon." He said seriously.

"I… no," Belarus spluttered.

"Then prove you still have loyalty to your people," he hissed.

"How?"

"Your brother… Convince him it would be best to stay on my, I mean, our side instead of those who have long worked against us."

"My brother is not always willing to listen to me," Belarus protested.

"I don't care if you get him with an olive branch or a knife, as long as he comes back to his senses, now leave," he gestured at the door.

Belarus did as instructed, before the door shut, she took a glance back at the lone man in the dark room pouring himself another glass of alcohol.

…

"…_That is why I feel the best way to proceed is to work with the Russians to make Belarus see it from our perspective_," the British Prime Minister was saying on screen.

"Pillock," England muttered as he turned the screen off.

"What's up?" His brother, Wales asked, "Don't like that idea, there?"

"It would be great if it had any hope," England snorted. "But it doesn't as Russia is a psychotic man-child with no idea what he wants to do aside from 'becoming one' with everyone, whatever that actually means, he'll also support his sister to the end, no matter how insane or incestuous she is and to top it all off, he doesn't even like me," England sighed.

"You never know, I thought Russia was getting better," Wales shrugged.

England looked at him sceptically. "Do you really think that?"

"Well, he ain't as bad as he were back in the day," Wales shrugged again.

"Hmm," was all England could say.

"How'd the last meeting go, anyways?" Wales asked.

"Irritatingly bureaucratic, I miss the days where a country could do what it wanted without everyone in Europe having to discuss and vote on it," England paused for a moment, "still don't know what America was doing there."

"I thought he made himself in charge," Wales said.

"But it had nothing to do with him," England shook his head with exasperation.

A cheeky smirk appeared on Wales's face. "It's 'cos he loves you."

"Stop it," England warned as he pointed his finger at his brother.

Before Wales could make another remark the phone rang and Wales darted to it. "Hello Britannic residence, this is Wales speaking," Wales gave a series of nods and uh-huhs before handing it over to England. "Like always, it's for you."

"This is England," he said to the phone and the Prime minister's voice greeted him from the other end of the line.

England was on the phone for longer than he'd have liked, he never had much time for politicians, and was relieved when the Prime Minister released him. "What did he want, then?" Wales asked, surprising England by being right next to him for the entire conversation without England noticing him.

"It looks like I have to go to the land of vodka, snow and communists immediately, so the Prime Minister can look good in front of the voters," England sighed.

...

**_A/N: Kinda awkward when spell check changes 'Hetalia' to 'genitalia'. When I say 'Axis Powers: Genitalia' to my friend it kinda sounds like I have some strange Nazi fetish..._**

**_Anyway a couple of things 1. Belarus herself isn't shown being as insane here as usual, this is because I believe that Russia brings out her insanity just with his presence, her treatment of other characters like Lithuania is because of the attention Russia shows them makes her jealous._**

**_Belarus's boss is not supposed to be current president Lukashenko, this fic is set into the not so distant future._**

**_So hope you're enjoying it and if you've got time then drop me a review, I'd love to hear from you thanks :D_**


	4. Chapter 4

The fog surrounding Russia's house was thick. Belarus trudged through the snow in her winter jacket, enjoying the feeling of her boots stepping on the solid snow and the sounds it made as her footprints formed beneath her. Belarus looked behind her at the sun setting behind the snow covered trees and smiled. She turned back to her brother's house on the hill and saw that a light was on in one of the top windows. She chuckled softly, letting her breath form into water vapour in front of her and suddenly reminding herself of how cold it was. She huddled her arms under themselves and marched toward her brother's door.

She couldn't help but notice how her house paled in comparison to that of Russia's. Russia's house was more like a palace than a house. It made think about what other nations even richer than her brother, like America or China, might live in.

She hammered her fist on the door repeatedly and only stopped when the door opened slightly. As her brother answered Belarus saw his expression change from his normal smile to a look of shock. "S-sister! You didn't tell me you were coming," he spluttered, "I am very busy so please go away," he tried to shut the door but Belarus thrust her arm forward and slammed the door the other way causing Russia to step backwards.

"May come in?" She asked sweetly.

"Errmm…" Russia scratched his head.

"Of course I can," she walked in the doorway, advancing on her brother. For every step she took forward, he took one back. "What's the matter, dear brother? We must speak with one another."

"We can speak later, I am busy," he protested. Russia and Belarus had now stumbled into the dining room and Russia darted behind the table.

"We should always have time for each other," she said as she began to chase him around the table in circles. "When we are married you can't keep doing this."

"I don't want to marry you!" Russia screamed, "please, Belarus, go home!"

"I can't without you!" She replied, still circling the table.

"Yes you can, sister Ukraine does it fine."

"I am not Ukraine," she growled. Russia had now abandoned the table for cover and started to run through the house with Belarus hot on his heels.

"I will find you later, just not now," Russia yelled.

"Later is no good!" Belarus screamed and stopped the chase in the same room it had begun. She stood panting against the table for a while as Russia stood staring at her. He'd obviously twigged something wasn't normal.

"Why is later no good?" He asked once Belarus's breath had returned.

"My boss, he needs you by our side, I need you by my side. Please, brother, come home with me, or let me live with you again just like the old days," Belarus reminisced about the old Soviet Union when she had actually lived with her brother. It would have been perfect if they didn't have to share it with others like Ukraine and Lithuania; Russia had even forced Poland and Hungary among others to stay with them even if they didn't formally live there or even like the idea.

"I'm not sure it would be such a good idea," Russia said slowly.

"Why not?"

"In the old days our people suffered great hardships, I just wanted to help them but it didn't work out," Russia said as he gazed into the distance, seemingly reflecting on the past.

"We don't have to live like we did then, just you and me together once more," Belarus pleaded but her brother remained defiant. Belarus sighed and dug deep into her pockets. "I got you this," she said sheepishly as she held out a sunflower to her brother. It was wilted and almost snapped clean in two. Most of the petals had been torn off and those that remained were an ugly shade of grimy yellow.

Russia still hesitantly took it though. "Thank you," he said as he held the flower in his arms with a faint smile.

"So now we can become one, da?" She asked excitedly and her brother's smile disappeared.

"We cannot, one flower will not change this," Russia said.

"But… but we _must!_" She pleaded.

"I am sorry, here," Russia handed the battered plant back to her.

Belarus stood there, staring into the face of her brother who was rejecting her gift, more than that, he was rejecting _her._ Belarus began to tremble as she remembered her boss's orders; if Russia wouldn't come willingly then she would have to resort to something much less pleasant.

"Brother, you know I love you, now and always," she told him as she reached into her second pocket.

"Another gift, sister, please stop it," Russia groaned.

"This is not a gift," she said solemnly and pulled a long sharp knife out of her coat.

"W-what are doing?" Russia looked puzzled as the knife moved towards his neck.

"You are coming with me," she said slowly, her hands trembling as the knife was held at her brother's throat.

Russia opened his mouth but no words came out. He shook violently, his back now against the wall. "Please, d-don't, go h-h-home, Belarus," he stuttered, never taking his eyes off the edge of the shining blade.

"If you go with me," she grabbed his shoulder, "please, don't make me hurt you."

"I'm not, you are doing this yourself," he began to sob, anyone else he would have fought back but not Belarus, not his own sister.

"Don't say that!" She screamed, "I don't want this but you must listen to me, you must help me and my boss." Russia didn't say anything, he just whimpered for a few moments. "Please," she begged quietly as a single tear fell from her eye.

"Am I interrupting something?" A smooth voice called from behind.

Russia and Belarus turned their heads to see England casually sipping a cup of tea next to the table. "W-what are you doing here?" Belarus asked, clearly panicked.

"I was sent to speak with Russia," he looked back and forth between the two siblings. "Is this a normal occurrence in the Russian household?" He asked.

Russia furiously shook his head. "Get her off!" He shouted.

"In that case," England pulled out the revolver from his belt. "Step away from him and drop the knife." Belarus didn't move for a few moments, she simply stared at England and felt her brother tremble. "NOW!" England shouted harshly and held the pistol at arm's length.

Belarus gulped loudly and slowly stood back from Russia, one step at a time. Her knife hit the floor with a thud of steel on wood. Russia breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at his sister and muttered "why?" Under his breath, she found herself unable the answer.

"There's a good girl," England sneered, being irritatingly patronising.

Belarus hissed at him. "You've ruined everything," she told him which he returned with an expression of mock surprise.

"Shame, now care to tell me what the hell just happened?" England asked, his gun still pointed at Belarus.

Belarus's eyes darted around the room. She scanned for an exit, any way to get away from this horrible situation she was in. "No," she told England and dived under the table.

"Yeah, hide under the table that'll-" Belarus then slammed the table with all her strength, flipping it over. "-work…" England finished his sentence as the table crashed on top of him. "OW!" He yelled in pain as Belarus sprinted towards the nearest window. With a mighty tug she pulled it open and leapt out. She began to roll down the hill in the snow, letting the frozen water camouflage herself. "Don't just stand there, you drunken communist!" She heard England shout from the house but by that point she had reached the bottom of the hill and had started to run into the foggy forest to escape. _What have I done?_ She asked herself as her brother's usually happy face turned to tears in her memories.

…

"She's gone," England said as he sat down opposite Russia.

Russia nodded, "I knew she would. You saved me," he looked at England with wonder.

"Yeah, well I didn't do it for you," England blushed.

"I know," Russia nodded again.

"What just happened here?" England asked.

"My sister, she is finally out of control," Russia sighed.

"Only just worked it, then?" England asked sarcastically.

"I thought she may get better but maybe it is getting worse," Russia said sadly.

"Well what did she want?" England crossed his arms.

"Me, she wanted us the become one once more."

"Ew," England shuddered.

Russia shook his head. "More like the union you have with your brothers," Russia explained, "I think her boss was scared I was on your side."

"Sounds like he may have finally flipped his lid," England scratched his chin.

"She was very sad, but determined, just like my sister," Russia stood up. "I think she may be in danger."

"Woop-de-do," England pointed to the bruise on his arm.

"If she failed, then her boss could be very cruel to her," Russia snarled. "I must help her," he made to leave but England stood suddenly and grabbed his arm.

"Whoa there, let's not do anything rash!" He held Russia back.

"What do you mean?"

"We should wait to see what happens, don't go making this worse than it needs to be."

"hmm," Russia considered what the Westerner was saying. Russia reached down and picked up a battered sunflower off of the floor. "I do not want to wait long," he said as he began to stroke the petals.

…

Lithuania jerked awake from his nightmare. In it Russia had been shouting about becoming one with him, swinging that pipe around over his head as he cornered Lithuania, all the while Poland stood in the background shrugging.

Wiping his brow, Lithuania struggled to gain full consciousness as he searched for whatever had thankfully woken him from such a horrible dream. His bed felt strangely empty without Estonia and Latvia but the trio had recently gone their separate ways. A loud knocking hammered through the house and Lithuania rubbed his eyes. That was what had woken him, someone was knocking. Lithuania turned one the lights and stumbled towards the door, blinking in the sudden brightness.

"Who?" He asked very bluntly and clearly very tired as he opened the front door. He did not expect to see Belarus standing in the doorway, looking very afraid for the first time since Lithuania had known her.

"Hide me," she said.


	5. Chapter 5

"She's missing?!" A tearful Ukraine gasped.

"We haven't found a thing yet," England continued at the front of the world meeting hall. It was a massive extensive room with microphones fitted everywhere so all could be heard. Shades of blue dominated the room, on the walls, the doors and even the ceiling. Only the brown of individual tables and chairs broke the sea of blue, that and the numerous nations sitting around at their allocated desks.

England was standing at the front to brief the nations on what he knew of the situation, apparently Russia wasn't in the mood to do it himself and Ukraine knew how her brother could be when his family were threatened, he hadn't even shown up to this meeting, a million thoughts crossed Ukraine's mind on what strange activities Russia could be doing right now.

But at this moment she wasn't worried about her brother, she was worried about her little sister. Belarus did care for Ukraine in her own way, Ukraine had raised both her younger siblings and knew that deep down the girl had sweet side, memories of discovering the little blonde girl asleep in a pile of washing like a cat came flooding back to Ukraine, that side of her had just been frozen by the bizarreness of her politics and overridden by the obsession she showed to Russia.

England's voice echoing through the room shook Ukraine back to the present. "According to my intelligence, even her boss hasn't heard from her so it looks like she didn't return home after the incident in question," England turned the page of the notes in front of him, "however we are maintaining watch over the land and Government of Belarus. My recommended course of action for any who happen to find Belarus herself is to arrest her and take her for questioning."

A loud series of murmurings greeted England's recommendation from across the hall. Ukraine decided that she should say something if no one else was. "We can't do that!" She announced as she stood up and wiped her eyes, hoping nobody noticed the tears that had been forming, she had to look strong now for the sake of her little sister.

"I think we can and we should," England replied from the front.

"She's just a girl," Ukraine pleaded.

"No, she's a very deranged girl whose obsession for Russia almost ended with her slitting his throat yesterday." England scratched his chin in thought, "Shame she's not into you, France," England jeered at his rival in the front row.

"Believe me it is," France replied flirtatiously. "If I had my way…" France chuckled under his breath.

"There's a thought I didn't need," England rolled his eyes.

"Jealous I wasn't thinking of you?" France joked.

"You are the most disgusting-" England began to rant but was drowned out by the simultaneous groan of numerous nations.

"Here we go again," Ukraine heard Monaco sigh from somewhere nearby.

"Kick his ass, England!" America shouted over the crowd followed by his obnoxious laughter.

"Enough!" Ukraine bellowed, so uncharacteristically loud that she not only surprised the other countries in the room but herself as well.

She looked down to see France had joined England up on the speaker's main platform and the pair appeared to be frozen mid argument. England had a single finger pointed at France who had his arms crossed defiantly.

"I will not see a meeting about the wellbeing of my sister turned into another Anglo-French fight!" Ukraine shouted.

The two on the platform looked at each other then back up at Ukraine.

"Sorry, miss Ukraine."

"Apologies."

"Hey, dudes?" Poland stood to speak for the first time.

"We recognise the representative of the Republic of Poland," England nodded.

"If, like, Belarus the girl is gone, then, like, what happens to Belarus the place?"

"It's in trouble," England sighed, "without Belarus there to stabilise the region things may go south soon."

"'Belarus' and 'stabilise' are not two words I usually put together," France said.

"Erm, excuse me, but we can live without the land, look at Prussia," Hungary pointed over at the German area where Prussia was leaning back on his chair, feet casually resting on top of the table.

"Hey, losers," Prussia chuckled giving a cheery wave at the attention he was receiving.

Prussia's smug grin was cut short as his brother cuffed him on the back of the head. "Behave yourself," Germany warned.

"My point is," Hungary continued, "then why does the region need us, Prussia, the land I mean, didn't fall into chaos after Prussia, the person, stopped being in charge."

"Because Prussian lands were still run by one of us," England explained, "the regions of Belarus currently have no one."

"Hey, here's a totally radical idea," Poland interrupted. "Why don't I run her land for a bit? I am, like, right next door after all."

England looked at France who shrugged in response. "Well I suppose it's an idea."

"Actually, I would rather run it myself," Ukraine spoke up again. "I believe I have a better claim than Poland."

"No way José," Poland shook his head. "You forget some of that land used to be mine, anyway."

"_Used _to be, Poland. As in the past tense." Ukraine snarled, only matters related to her family could get her worked up like this.

The door suddenly burst open and Lithuania came running through. "Sorry I'm late," he apologised to the group before taking his empty chair next to Ukraine. "What did I miss?" He asked her.

Ukraine relayed the situation back to Lithuania as best as she could.

Lithuania visibly paled the more Ukraine talked, he'd liked Belarus _a lot_ and Ukraine knew it, the poor guy probably didn't even know she was missing until just now. "I- But wheredoyouthinksheis?" Lithuania blurted out.

"I-I don't know, if I did, then I'd be there now," Ukraine responded.

"No idea?" Lithuania pressed her.

Ukraine shook her head and Lithuania exhaled loudly, almost as though he were… relived. Ukraine considered that Lithuania could be breathing out in exasperation but it didn't shake a nagging feeling, a suspicion that he was hiding something. _No, _she told herself, _Lithuania cares for my sister deeply. He would never harm her._

"Miss Ukraine?" A voice echoed through the microphone. "Did you catch that or were you busy gossiping?" England stood in the centre with his large eyebrows raised at her.

"I-erm- could you repeat that?" Ukraine asked timidly.

"Of course, it's not like you were important in it," England deadpanned. "Until the safe return of Miss Belarus the landmass known as the 'Republic of Belarus' is to become the protectorate of Miss Ukraine. Miss Ukraine shall be responsible for maintaining control of the Republic of Belarus but she does not answer to the president of Ukraine or its people. This has been decided by a majority of votes by member states in attendance, blah blah blah. Is that agreeable?"

"Yes I'll take good care of it," Ukraine frantically nodded.

"Do we have any other issues to address today?" England glanced around the room and a fury of hands rose. England sighed, "One at a time then everyone. Let's start with you Somalia, what's wrong now?"

…

It had been a long meeting, Lithuania reflected. Although he'd missed the first, and probably most important, part, for him at least, he'd had to sit through squabbles and disputes. Somalia wanted more foreign support, Congo had blamed Rwanda for just about everything, Israel said its neighbours were threatening it, Israel's neighbours said Israel were threatening them, China and japan clashed over some islands Lithuania had never heard of, Argentina squabbled with England about more islands Lithuania hadn't heard of, Turkey demanded everyone recognise Northern Cyprus as a nation, North Korea asked for money to help feed its populace but South Korea insisted it would be spent on weaponry and then Iran told America to 'piss off home' causing an argument.

Lithuania was grateful for some fresh air after hours of pointless debate. He'd walked with Estonia and Latvia back to his house, the two seemed keen to talk about Belarus, Russia and Ukraine but Lithuania kept steering the conversation away from it. Back at his place Belarus should be there but she didn't want anyone to catch on.

Lithuania couldn't help but worry about what condition his house would be in. She'd probably have created some strange sculpture of Russia, made of whatever he'd thrown in the bin, in the middle of his bedroom or something.

Belarus was eccentric, true, but Lithuania cared for her far more than he'd admit to anyone. While she hadn't exactly returned his affection, she'd turned to him in her hour of need so he must mean something to her. If only he could convince her that Russia wasn't suitable for her, and not just because of the whole incest thing.

Lithuania said goodbye to his friends at the doorway, as far as he could tell, they didn't seem to suspect anything. He stepped into the doorway with a sigh and quietly shut the door behind him.

"Belarus?" He poked his head around the door to the front room. The girl had been curled up on the sofa but sprang up in surprise when Lithuania appeared.

Lithuania walked up to the sofa and sat beside Belarus, his smile as warm and comforting as he could make it. Belarus blinked but then broke their eye contact with a small huff.

"You know you can trust me, right?" Lithuania assured her.

"I can't trust anyone," She replied, still not looking at him.

"But if you don't trust me why did you come to me?" Lithuania questioned.

"Because you don't like my brother, you wouldn't give me to him," Belarus said dully.

"What if I gave you to America?"

"You wouldn't!" Belarus spun around and gave him a dangerous stare.

"No, no, I wouldn't!" Lithuania held his hands out in front of him defensively.

Belarus stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly and turning away again to slump back on the couch.

"I-I just think you should know what's going to happen to your land and your people," Lithuania scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Hmm?" Belarus grunted.

Lithuania took that as a sign to continue, "Your big sister, Ukraine is going to take care of it until you want to go back."

"What if I don't want to go back?" Belarus buried her head in her arms.

"Russia won't hold a grudge for that long-" Lithuania began.

"Of course he won't, he loves me!" Belarus interrupted and Lithuania felt a dull thud in his chest. "I'm worried about my boss."

Now Lithuania was worried, if there was anyone who scared _Belarus_ it must be serious. "Why would your boss hold a grudge against you?" Lithuania asked, confused.

"I failed, he doesn't like that and now everyone will come looking for him because I couldn't stop it," Belarus snapped.

"But why?"

"Stop asking me questions!" Belarus spat, suddenly turning nasty. Lithuania drew back instinctively from the woman's intense gaze. "I'm off to bed!" She announced and ran to the spare room.

_I suppose these things will take time,_ Lithuania thought wishing he could do more to help.

…

For the second night in a row Lithuania was woken by knocking at his door. For the second night in a row he drowsily plodded down the stairs to answer his door, praying it wasn't Russia.

"'Sup dude?" The figure at the door asked.

"Poland?" Lithuania yawned, "What are you doing here?"

"We, like, need to talk about stuff, seriously."

...

_**(A/N): OK now the story is just starting to get underway so if you've got any feed back I'd love to hear from you, cheers :D**_


	6. Chapter 6

Lithuania joined his friend on the front porch. "What is it?" He queried, taking care to close the door behind him as quietly as he could.

"Dude!" Poland gestured towards the shut door. "I thought we were gonna talk inside!"

""Well… We can't," Lithuania replied nervously.

"But why?" Poland asked, clearly confused.

"It's my house, do we need a reason?" Lithuania said quickly.

Poland shrugged, "you're so weird," then he began to shiver as a bitter wind reached the pair. "I wanna go inside, it's, like, cold."

"I told you we can't," Lithuania sighed, exasperated by his friend's persistence.

"Did you, like, forget your key or something?" Poland asked.

"Er… yes, now we can't get back in…" Lithuania glanced at the door and patted himself, he actually had forgotten his key and actually couldn't get back in. Here he was locked outside of his house wearing his pyjamas in the bitter cold with Poland gawking at him. He was sure Belarus would let him in if he hammered hard enough but for that to happen Poland had to leave.

"You can stay at my place then, dude," Poland offered.

"No, it's fine."

"But where will you sleep?"

"I've got a spare key hidden out here," Lithuania said defensively.

"Cool, use it and let us in," Poland smiled.

"I can't because I… don't want you to see where it is."

Poland blinked, "You don't have a spare key, do you, Lietu?"

"No," Lithuania sighed.

"Then let's go back to my place, we can, like, talk easier there."

"I…" Lithuania glanced back at his house, he didn't really have a choice. He just hoped that Belarus wouldn't notice he was missing.

…

Lithuania had tried to get Poland to explain what he wanted as they trudged to Poland's house but the blond had refused to comment. "It's, like, a secret," He'd say mysteriously.

Poland's house had changed quite a bit since Lithuania had last seen it. There were still traces of Russia's influence around but it was beginning to look more Western than Lithuania remembered. A large flag of the European Union also hung above the fireplace mantel in the sitting room.

"Can we talk now, Poland?" Lithuania asked, exhausted from the long walk in the freezing weather.

"Sure," Poland came through the doorway holding two mugs of what smelt like hot chocolate.

"Thank you," Lithuania said gratefully, a hot drink was just what he needed.

Poland took a sip from his mug, "Mmm, I love this stuff," Poland absentmindedly said.

"Po?" Lithuania leaned forwards but Poland ignored him. "Poland?"

"Hm?" Poland jerked back to his senses.

"What did you want anyway?"

"Oh, I just wanted to hang and stuff," Poland shrugged.

"You… What?!" Lithuania stood up.

"yeah, we don't do sleep overs like we used to."

Lithuania groaned and rubbed his forehead. "I'm going to finish my drink then go back home," Lithuania told his friend.

"Wha? Why?" Poland seemed disappointed.

"Because I've got stuff to do, I'm sorry but I thought this was something serious," Lithuania sighed.

"Well, there is something," Poland stroked the rim of his cup sheepishly.

"Oh?"

"In, like, a week or something, Ukraine moves in on Belarus's land."

"So?"

"There's some, like, stuff I wanna take care of first."

"Po?" Lithuania pressed him.

"Some stuff no one else should know about," Poland stared at Lithuania.

"No!" He said defiantly. "Whatever you are doing count me out."

"Just, like, listen, it's totally not my fault but I still need to do something," Poland pleaded.

"What have you done?" Lithuania dreaded the answer.

Poland sat down and gestured for Lithuania to join him. "Do you remember that dude, Ales Bialiatski?"

Lithuania nodded slowly, "the Belarusian rights activist that we both accidently let the Belarusian's arrest," Lithuania remembered the incident all too well. It had been one of the moments that cost him some faith in Belarus herself who had been happily cheering the arrest of such a 'meddling trouble maker'.

"Yeah him, what if that, like, wasn't the first time I'd let something like that happen," Poland scratched his head nervously.

"What do you mean?" Lithuania felt a growing sense of dread.

"Our people wanted to, like, get along. So me and my Government totally helped round up criminals in Belarus, 'cept they weren't all criminals, you see?"

"Oh, Poland," Lithuania shook his head.

"Hey they'll be stuff on you too!" Poland pointed at Lithuania.

"Me!? I haven't done anything!"

"That's what you think, but what if you're wrong? What if you, like, totally helped silence non-violent demonstrators and stuff?"

"I-I didn't do anything!" Lithuania protested.

"You don't think you did anything," Poland corrected. "What if you're totally wrong without knowing?"

"But so what? I didn't mean it…"

"Will Ukraine see it that way?" Poland shrugged, "What if she totally gives this stuff to the rest of Europe? What'll Germany or Britain or France think? It'll hurt our reps!"

For all his rambling, Poland might have something. "So what are planning to do about it?"

"Espionage," Poland smiled, "I, like, sneak in, grab them files and sneak out."

"What if you are caught? It'll look worse than if you did nothing at all."

"I won't get caught but I could do with backup maybe?" Poland leaned in closer.

"You want me to get involved now?" Lithuania gasped.

"You're, like, the only dude, I'd trust to help. I get you had a thing for Belarus and stuff but she's gone and we need to totally cover our backs," Poland paused for a moment. "I'll be waiting here at seven tomorrow night, if you aren't here in half an hour I'm totally going anyway." Poland swigged the last of his hot chocolate and sighed with content. "Anyway, I'm sleepy. G'night," Poland stumbled out of the room.

Lithuania called after him but Poland had already marched up into his room, leaving Lithuania to think about what to do.

…

It was the early hours of the morning before Lithuania made it back home. He'd decided to try and get back before Belarus noticed, just to avoid any misunderstanding, but the plan fell apart when he remembered she'd have to let him in.

He hesitantly knocked several times and timidly called out for her. He stood there for a few minutes before daring to knock again. "Belarus? It's only me, Lithuania. Can you let me in? Please?"

It was a moment before he saw the slightest flash of movement at the top window. Lithuania stood expectantly but for a long while nothing happened. "I don't have my key, you understand?" Lithuania called out once more and this time the door slowly opened in front of him. "Thank you," he smiled at Belarus's head, which was hovering, wide eyed, in the gap that the half open door left. Belarus carefully opened the door fully, allowing Lithuania to step in.

"What were you doing?" Belarus quizzed him, still staring at him as though he were some strange unknown life form.

"Morning jog, forgot my key today. First time ever I have forgotten my key but lucky enough you were here today," he made the story up, hoping she would accept it.

"In your night clothes?" Belarus raised her brow and Lithuania cringed.

"I hope I didn't wake you," he tried to ignore her last comment.

"I was awake," she said, her voice rising.

"Good, we're both early risers," Lithuania laughed nervously.

"You did you tell?!" She snapped suddenly.

"Tell what?" Lithuania shrunk away from Belarus and her explosive temper.

"That I was here? Was it my brother? Or my boss? America? England? That fool, Poland?" She demanded and Lithuania shrank even further into the corner.

"I haven't told anybody, I promise!" Lithuania held up his hands in surrender.

"I… Poland wanted to talk to me and I didn't want to bring him in here," Lithuania figured that lying more now would cause more harm than good.

"What did the dumbass want?" She hissed, standing menacingly over him.

"Poland just wanted to spend time with me, he's like that."

"That's all he wanted? In the middle of the night?"

"Well, you know Poland," Lithuania shrugged. Belarus seemed to be calming down and Lithuania took the chance to explain more. "I wouldn't have gone but he said it was urgent, it really wasn't."

Belarus considered his words for a moment before huffing and storming off, apparently satisfied by his answer.

Lithuania sighed with relief. _If she catches you with Poland tonight, she will murder you, violently! _A voice in his head told him.

_So instead you just leave Poland, think he can handle it? _A second voice said.

_It's his idea and his problem, _the first voice reasoned.

_But if he gets caught could you forgive yourself? _The second voice asked him.

"No, I couldn't," Lithuania muttered under his breath. He told himself that tonight he'd find Poland and hope to talk him out of this but usually Poland was the one who could talk him into doing things. Lithuania prayed he wouldn't have to get dragged along with Poland's latest hair brained scheme.

...

**_(A/N): I admit I'm a little concerned over OOC Poland but I've made a few changes from the original to try and suit his character better, I must admit that I really only picked Poland for the roll as, out of all the neighboring nations, he's really the only one who dislikes Belarus  
_**


	7. Chapter 7

Lithuania managed to sneak past a sleeping Belarus that evening. She'd been sleeping a lot, when she wasn't sleeping she was prone to fits of psychotic rage so Lithuania was rather relieved when she slept. He trudged up to Poland's place, a million troubled thoughts dashing through his mind. When he did reach Poland's, the lights were off and the door locked. There was no reply when Lithuania knocked and worrying thought crossed his brain, _he's gone already._ Lithuania held his face in his palms and groaned. _Now Poland was going to try and play at spies but probably get hopelessly caught and make Belarus and/or Russia go crazy._

"Hey, dude, you came. I was totally going to leave without you," Poland's voice emitted from somewhere nearby.

Lithuania glanced around but failed to see his friend in the dusk of twilight. "Where are you?" He asked the voice.

"My disguise works well. Up here," Poland replied cheerfully.

Lithuania wordlessly gapped up at a nearby tree, it had lost its leaves so a figure was clearly visible amongst the branches. He was dressed head to toe in jet black fabric with only a small slit for his eyes. Boots as black as the fabric were tied with tight lace to his legs and a sheath for a large blade hung from a shoulder strap.

"Nice, huh? I borrowed it from Japan, he totally thinks it's for a dressing up party. No one would see me in this," Poland said smugly.

"It's a ninja costume," Lithuania sighed with exasperation.

"World renowned masters of stealth, duh," Poland spoke as though it was the most obvious yet brilliant idea in the world.

"This isn't a good idea, Poland. We should just stop now," Lithuania tried to be forceful but it just wasn't in his personality, he'd phased it more as a suggestion.

Poland leapt down from the tree. He stumbled slightly upon landing then stood up straight with his hands on his hips. "Listen, Lietu, it'll be cool," Poland put his hand on Lithuania's shoulder. "We'll be in and out before anyone knows we were there," he assured.

"I have a bad feeling about this. What if you're caught?"

Poland chuckled and gestured to his clothes. "Caught? In this? Get real, dude." Poland then looked Lithuania up and down, "hey, where's your outfit?"

"I didn't bring one because I didn't think we should do this."

"Lucky I have a spare inside, c'mon," Poland walked back towards his house.

Lithuania reluctantly followed Poland inside. After waiting a short while in the front room, Poland returned holding a second ninja outfit for Lithuania.

"Poland… I really don't…"

"Just put it on, man," Poland waved the outfit in front of Lithuania's face.

"No! You listen here!" Lithuania snapped, his sudden change in attitude catching Poland off guard. "We can't do this. I only came to talk you out of this bizarre plan. We are not going to steal from Belarus and there is absolutely no way I am going to agree to this," Lithuania stared out the surprised Poland for a few moments, confident that his point had been made.

…

"How did I agree to this?" Lithuania muttered under his breath. Here he was, dressed as a ninja, in a back alleyway of a cool Minsk night.

Poland was standing beside him studying a large map and talking to himself. "If we go down there," he pointed to one of the many winding streets, "or is that too close to one of those police stations? What do you think?" He turned to Lithuania who just blinked and nodded with agreement.

Poland scratched his chin. "There suits are itchy," he complained. "Maybe we should run on the roof tops?" He turned the map to the side and squinted.

"Rooftops?" Lithuania repeated in disbelief.

"ya-huh," Poland already began to tug at the closest drain pipe. "If we climb, we can, like, take short cuts and stuff." Poland shimmed his way up the pipe as best he could, puffing all the way. When he reached the half way mark, however, it shook violently and made loud creaking sounds.

"You should come down!" Lithuania warned him.

"I'll be fine, I'm not fat or anything," Poland chuckled.

A sudden snapping sound signified gravity sending Poland plus the pipe plummeting planet side. Luckily Lithuania was there to catch him otherwise Poland would surely have broken some bones. The impact caused Lithuania to collapse with a gasp onto the concrete floor with Poland on top of him.

Both countries got to their feet groaning and rubbing themselves in sore places. "A warned you," Lithuania wheezed.

Poland shrugged with a smile, "If you don't try you'll, like, never know if it could work."

Poland then walked, seamlessly aimlessly, out into the streets. Lithuania followed him around like a lost puppy as Poland buried his nose in the map.

There were actually a few people wondering the streets and cars driving past. Everyone was giving the two of them strange looks, some laughed, some just looked bewildered by the sight of two ninjas in Minsk.

"Do you even know where we're going?" Lithuania asked.

"Of course I do," Poland replied. He stopped to look over the horizon. "You see that big building?" Lithuania nodded. "That's where."

"How are we getting in?"

"With stealth," Poland replied.

The two approached the largest building in the area, it didn't exactly tower above the rest of the buildings but it still stood out from the rest. As they watched from the shadows nearby, several men and women in uniform routinely came and left.

As one uniformed man exited Poland grabbed Lithuania's hand and dashed forward. When the man was completely out of sight, Poland pulled Lithuania through the front door. Thankfully there was no one inside. It was pretty deserted, in the centre of the room was a round desk complete with chair and computer but there was no one attending them.

Poland glanced around before shuffling to the nearest door. He carefully pried it open and survived the room. "Totally clear," he informed Lithuania.

They tip toed deeper into the building, finding a couple of close shaves when they'd had to dart to hiding places to escape detection, but otherwise it was remarkably uneventful.

Poland stopped Lithuania when they reached a door labelled 'relations and interactions'. "This'll be it," Poland whispered.

Again the room was deserted so Poland immediately ran up to the filing cabinet. He spent a few moments digging around, humming quietly as he did so, before letting loose a triumphant 'ah-ha'.

"Can we go?" Lithuania asked, desperate to get out as soon as he could.

"Don't you want to get any of your stuff?" Poland asked.

"I'm not stealing, besides I've got nothing to hide," Lithuania crossed his arms.

"Alright," Poland shrugged. "I should totally have a driving waiting outside."

"What? Why couldn't we use them to get here in the first place?"

"Totally unstealthy," Poland shook his head.

Then the lights abruptly shattered the atmosphere. The two nations turned and froze at the sight of an equally shocked man by the light switch. The group stared at each other for a few agonising seconds before the man began to splutter in Belarusian.

"Errr," Poland gapped blankly at the man before turning to Lithuania. "Run!" Poland shouted.

"Where?!" Lithuania urgently around but the only door was where the man was standing.

"Here!" Poland charged suddenly and head-butted the man in the ribs, sending him gasping to the floor.

"What have you done?!" Lithuania sprinted after Poland, who just seemed to be running back the way they came, with the man furiously shouting behind them.

As they dashed to the exit many people would come out of doors to see what was going on, they didn't usually do much other than look on in stunned surprise but one man had tried to dive after them, he'd missed though and harmlessly hit the floor.

Poland, still had his arms gripped tightly around the files as he kicked the front doors open and quickly glanced around for his getaway vehicle. "This one!" He darted towards a small black van, whose driver was hastily putting out a cigarette and revving up the van.

Lithuania tried to keep up close behind Poland but found himself a few paces behind his friend. He could hear frantic men shouting in Belarusian behind him and fear pumped through his body. Then a loud and sudden gunshot broke through the air and Lithuania felt a sharp, searing pain in his leg.

He collapsed onto the ground as more gunshots echoed in the night. The sound of screeching tires responded to the gunshots and Lithuania could only watch as the van, and Poland, sped off around a corner. Several men ran after it but most already admitted it'd escaped. Lithuania began to black out as several strong hands lifted him off of the ground. It was only once he'd reached Warsaw did Poland remember that he'd forgotten something important.

…

_Greetings,_

_I am recording this message to be shown to the world. As you can see I stand before you all, the victim. This representative of the Lithuania has betrayed us, he has betrayed his own people, the people of Belarus and the people of the world. How? Last night, security forces found this man trespassing and stealing from us. I will repeat this fact, I will not tolerate foreign interference. I am keeping this man here to answer for his crimes and to help catch his partners. This a warning to all of you foreigners, stay away! I also have a additional news in that Natalia Arlovskaya is no longer the representative of Belarus and I have branded her a traitor to her country._

_That will be all._

…

As the figure of Belarus's boss faded from the screen, America stood up and flailed his arms like a hyper child.

"Did you see that?!" He asked the room, unsure if he was actually alone. Thankfully there was another figure in the room, one of his many advisers who America could remember the face but not the name.

"I did," the adviser nodded slowly with an open mouth.

America scratched his chin in thought. "Lithuania is a democracy now that commie land fell, right?"

"Yes, Belarus is pretty much the only place left without it," the adviser confirmed. "Well actually you could argue that Russia and Ukraine have difficulties with their systems-" He began to babble in a soft voice but America had zoned out, only registering what he thought relevant.

"So what you're saying is that Lithuania is the good guy and the Belarusians the bad?" He interrupted.

"Well, I wouldn't put it like that," the soft spoken adviser meekly replied. "In history and politics, it's difficult to say that any has moral high ground over the other-" America zoned out again.

"I like Lithuania, he's cool," America reflected upon the man who had come to stay for a while. It didn't seem to be in his personality to do the things he was accused of.

"He's a nice guy, so quiet and not obnoxious," the adviser agreed but America didn't pick up on the veiled insult.

"So I should save him!" America announced.

"We should do our best to help him," the adviser agreed. "Just don't go charging in without a second thought," he warned.

"Whatever," America hand waved him away. "Hey, thanks for the help, adviser dude."

"A-adviser?" The man sighed. "But it's me, Canada…"

…

"Poor little Lithuania," Russia shook his head as the vision of His younger sister's boss disappeared from the TV screen in front of him. "This is all terrible misunderstanding," he muttered. First his sister's attack and subsequent disappearance then poor Lithuania being held against his will. Both times the boss seemed to be to blame and Russia was starting to suspect that he was not as nice as Russia originally believed. Russia thought that the first thing to do tomorrow was to go and sort this mess out, then everyone could go back to being friends.

...

Belarus had been staring at the TV static for a while now, it soothed her. However once she'd seen the message from her boss nothing could calm her down. How could she have been so stupid!? Of course Lithuania was going to betray her like this! She should have learned by now that nobody aside from her brother truly cared for her. Now even her own boss had turned on her and stripped her of her title as 'Belarus'. Now she wasn't a nation, she didn't know what it made her but it wasn't 'Belarus' anymore. But she knew whose fault it was!

Lithuania was far too cowardly and meek to act alone, somebody had goaded him into it and she had a good idea who.

Poland was going to pay!

...

**_(A/N) hey, hope I haven't made Belarus's boss into a James Bond villain! Also when proofreading through, it looks like doesn't recognise 'Belarusian' as a word! Next it'll tell me there's no such thing as 'French' or 'Italian'!_**

**_Big thanks to all those who've reviewed so far (you make me feel tingly inside!) and hope you will continue to do so_**


	8. Chapter 8

"I hereby call this meeting of 'The Super, Amazing Freedom Fighters', fighting for truth, justice and the American way to order!" America shouted at his partners. He was greeted by silence and blank looks for a while.

"I still prefer the name 'NATO'," England rolled his eyes.

"Same difference," America hand waved him away. "Now we all know why we're here but I'm gonna tell you anyway. One of our members, who I totally forgot was one of us, is being held captive by a horrible dictator." Poland shifted uncomfortably but America didn't notice, indeed he was more focused on the look of exasperation on France's face. "What, dude?"

"How can you not know who's part of NATO?" France asked him.

America shrugged, "I forget," then whispered to France, "Do you know who those guys are?" He pointed down the edge of the table.

"Of course I know," France snapped.

"Then who?"

"I… well… I don't have to tell you," France responded, clearly flustered.

Hungary, who was sitting next to France, responded for him. "That's Slovenia and Slovakia," she said kindly.

"I knew that," both America and France replied.

"What about-" America started but Hungary interrupted again.

"Albania."

"And-"

"Canada."

Comprehension dawned on America's face. "Oh, right, yeah!"

"The signs were there, we should have acted sooner." England brought the topic back on track. "Of course, if you'd all listened to me in the first place, this mess may be sorted." England angrily crossed his arms.

"I don't remember you offering any solutions," France snapped.

"I did but everyone decided we should let Russia get on with it," England shook his head, "always a mistake. I've never trusted that nutter."

"Are you saying Russia had something to do with this?" The tiny Luxembourg covered her mouth in surprise.

"I'm not implying anything, however we shouldn't dismiss any eventualities at this point," England calmly took a sip from the cup of tea he'd brought with him.

"No, if Russia had anything to do with this, I'd know," Estonia leaned in from the far end of the table.

"Russia likes Lithuania too much to hurt him," Latvia backed up his friend.

"What about Belarus? How does she fit into this?" Bulgaria asked the group.

"The boss said he was stripping her of her title, I don't think she was directly involved," Belgium looked at the Netherlands who nodded in agreement.

"'Stripping her of her title'," Spain held his head in his hands, "I can't think of how that would work."

"Of course you can't, bastard. It works easily," Romano, or South Italy, suddenly lashed out at the Spaniard.

"Why did you bring your brother Italy?" Germany groaned.

"Aww, Romano wanted to come and see Spain," Veneziano, or North Italy, replied.

"What!? I never said that you lying coward!" Romano grabbed Veneziano's collar and shook him rapidly.

"I could tell you were thinking it though!" Veneziano explained but it just caused his brother to shake him harder.

"Shut up!" Romano snarled.

Spain chuckled and pinched Romano's cheek. "Oh, Romano, you're so cute when you get so flustered."

"Get off of me, bastard!" Romano screamed as his cheeks lit up.

"They're worse than you guys," America said to France and England.

"Silence, all of you!" Germany yelled and the room fell quiet. "Need I remind you that we are one member missing because of this crisis? You have the indecency to turn this into another Italian madhouse now? Shame on you all."

"I'm sorry Germany, please don't hate me," Italy said sheepishly as he looked at the floor.

"It's alright, Italy. You're not to blame this time," Germany responded.

"Yeah anyway," America continued, "Belarus can't just be stripped of her nation-ness like that. The boss denouncing her is just symbolic, no real power there. We all still recognize her as the representative of Belarus so that's how she'll be. Thing is Belarus is one weird chick so she might actually believe she's just a normal human now," America explained.

"Maybe she believes in aliens too?" England snarked.

"Or magic?" America countered and England paled.

"You haven't seen what I've seen," England shook his fist.

"Has anyone actually considered what Lithuania was actually doing, eh?" Canada asked the group.

"Lithuania was acting strange when we last saw him," Estonia said while Latvia nodded in agreement.

"What about you Poland?" America asked.

"Huh? Why me?" Poland glanced up and down the table to find all eyes on him.

"It's 'cos I thought you and Lithuania were best friends so you might know something," America shrugged.

"Well I totally don't know anything," Poland squirmed awkwardly.

"Poland, you're being really weird," America pressed him.

"Lithuania is my best friend and I'm worried about him," Poland explained.

"That makes sense," America nodded.

"hmm…" England didn't look as convinced.

"What are we going to do?" Poland asked the gang.

There was silence as everyone just awkwardly looked at one another.

"I've got it!" America shouted. "Issue a statement saying 'We demand the immediate release of Lithuania or there will be dire consequences.' That will shake them up!"

"What will these consequences be?" Turkey asked America.

America shrugged, "I'll just make it up as I go along."

England sighed, "Well, it's a start but I doubt it will actually have any impact. I believe that's all, meeting dismissed."

As the countries began to file out America grabbed England by the shoulder. "OK, dude, two things. Number one is I'm supposed to say when the meeting is over and number two," America lowered his voice, "I have an idea I didn't want to share with all the others, maybe we could include France and Germany but I want to keep this as quiet as we can," he winked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

England groaned, "I have a terrible feeling about this."

* * *

Russia hummed to himself as he marched through the streets. He hadn't come alone, he'd actually invited all his friends but oddly enough only his older sister had wanted to come with him, he could hear her bouncing around behind him.

Russia spied a cart selling a variety of Eastern European meats and exiled loudly with a wide smile on his face. Russia licked his lips and moved towards the cart but Ukraine interrupted him.

"Brother, should we not be moving as fast as we can?"

"Of course," he turned to her, still smiling. "I just felt my tummy rumble so I thought I could get some food maybe?"

Ukraine giggled, "Oh Russia, you've always had such a big appetite. I remember all those times I would bake bread for all three of us only to find you'd already eaten the lot before I'd even sat down."

Ukraine got on her toes to ruffle his hair, it felt good. Why couldn't everyone be as nice as Ukraine? Why couldn't his other sister? Russia felt a little sad now as he reminisced about the old days when they were children. Ukraine would fuss over her siblings while Belarus played pranks on both Ukraine and Russia. Then Belarus had hit puberty and her hormones went wild. First she'd been unusually shy and distant towards Russia and blushed whenever he touched her. But as time went on she got more and more confident until she had openly confessed her feelings towards him. Russia had been understandably concerned but he thought he could only be a phase. He'd been so very wrong. Now she'd turned into a knife wielding stalker whose only concern had been to gain his affection.

"Here, I got us one each," Ukraine was holding a black salceson in front of his mouth.

Russia sniffed the meat and smiled. "Mmm thank you, Ukraine," Russia gleefully took a bite while Ukraine grinned and did the same.

"You are most welcome but we should be going now," Ukraine gestured with her eyes towards the large palace like building at the end of the street.

When the pair reached the palace they were blocked by massive black gates and a guard with an assault rifle.

"Halt! What business do you have here?" the guard asked.

"I would like to speak with your boss," Russia explained.

The guard looked at Russia as though he were crazy. "Nobody just marches in to speak to the president."

"I do," Russia replied simply.

"Just leave, the both of you," the guard began to shake his weapon threateningly.

"I don't think you understand," Russia said defiantly.

"I don't think that you-" The guard began but the radio on his waist crackled to life. "yes? I'm with two people yes. A man and woman yes. They are? I-I didn't know. Yes sir." The guard stood to attention.

"Mr Russia, Miss Ukraine, I apologise. If you wait just a moment I am certain someone will be with you."

Russia nodded, "I told you that you did not understand."

The guard glared at Russia and Ukraine hastily stepped in. "Thank you, sir. You were only doing your job." He returned her comment with a curt nod.

The gates then began to slowly open and a lone figure dressed in black as dark as the gates strode across the palace courtyard. Russia made to move inside but the guard held up his arm.

"You will wait here," he instructed.

The figure reached them with his hand extended in greeting. "Mr Russia and Miss Ukraine?"

"Hello."

"That's us."

The man shook both their hands as he introduced himself. "I am Danik Mienski, personal assistant to the president." The man's tone was friendly but his face looked harsh.

"Hello Mr Mienski," Ukraine bowed.

"Pleasure is mine," he nodded.

"When can we see the president?" Russia asked.

Mienski shook his head, "You cannot. I am afraid that the president is very busy right now for reasons I am sure you understand."

"I want to see Lithuania," Russia whined.

"We cannot allow that," Mienski replied. "However the president does welcome you to Minsk and hopes you will remain here to enjoy some of our nation's hospitality."

"Rubbish," Ukraine snapped, causing both Mienski and Russia to turn to her in surprise. "Where is Lithuania? Where is our sister?"

"Lithuania is a secure location for questioning. Your sister's location is unknown even to us but be aware that we are searching for her."

"What happens when you find her?" Ukraine asked.

"We bring her home," Mienski gave an unpleasant grin which made the siblings feel slightly uneasy.

"Lithuania is nice, he never means to hurt anyone," Russia explained.

"We'll see," Mienski responded menacingly.

"Is there anything else?" Ukraine crossed her arms.

"Just one, the president feels rather wary of your interference, both of you. He advises you not to become deeply involved, including your attempts of taking this land." He addressed Ukraine with the last part of his sentence.

"My what?" Ukraine stuttered, clearly confused.

"You plan to take control," Mienski's cold eyes looked into her own, "this will not happen."

"Only to help your people until my sister returns," Ukraine reasoned.

"That is the message I was told to convey," Mienski shrugged. "This conversation is over, enjoy your time here."

With that Mienski turned and trudged back up to the palace as the gates shut behind.

"I do not like him much," Russia said slowly.

"Neither do I, brother," Ukraine sighed and rubbed her back.

* * *

_**(A/N) Yes it's a whole chapter in a Belarus story without Belarus. Fear not, she'll have much more focus next time. This also took a while as my laptop was being stupid and I lost this entire document so I had to rewrite it -_- feels like filler with a little bit of Russia-Ukraine brother-sister fluff. I'm not actually sure how to treat Ukraine's feelings towards Russia as her character song (which is really catchy) seems to suggest she has feelings for Russia like Belarus does but I haven't seen this anywhere else so I'm keeping her a protective yet kindly older sister towards Russia.**_

_**Also, I've found out how to do those line breaks people do! See this?**_

* * *

_**Yeeeaaahhh! I'll be changing my stories to include that!**_

_**Anyway review if you can guys, make me feel special.**_


	9. Chapter 9

"Come on pick up!" Poland muttered to his cell phone.

"Hi, this is Lithuania-"

"You're OK!" Poland shouted at the phone in relief.

"-I can't pick up my phone now-"

Poland's heart plummeted as he stared at the phone. "I, like, always do that," Poland groaned and hung up, there was no point leaving a message, he'd left a hundred.

He wondered to himself why it was different this time. Before he'd let Russia carry Lithuania away from him fine. It wasn't that he hadn't cared but he didn't think there was much he could do so why worry?

"This is so not cool," Poland rubbed his face. He looked over at the crowds in the nearby marketplace; maybe a walk could take his mind off things.

He strolled through the markets, seeing if anything caught his eye but nothing did, even his favourite foods only earned themselves a glance. Poland saw the people in the market smiling and laughing while children ran past his legs, he'd never felt so separate from them than he did at this moment. Poland paused and looked over his shoulder; he was beginning to feel uneasy. It was like he was being watched.

Poland tried to shrug off the feeling and left the market with his head down and hands in pockets. He could do nothing but listen to his footsteps as the sounds of the markets faded. But as Poland listened he noticed that his footsteps were not alone. He looked back over his shoulder but the streets were barren. He looked at the rooftops to be sure but they too were deserted, just as well, no one really goes on rooftops normally.

But when Poland's eyes went back in front of him he found a familiar blonde figure standing right in his face. Poland drew back in surprise from the girl, who hadn't moved an inch since she'd materialised out of nowhere. Only her eyes followed his own, the rest of her was ridged.

"B-Belarus?" Poland leant against the nearest wall for support. "You totally scared me."

Her expression didn't change, she didn't even acknowledge that he'd spoken; she simply stared at him with an expression of disdain.

"Er, can you even hear me?" Poland asked.

After a few moments of intense staring Belarus slowly shook her head. "Youuu! This was your doingggg!"

"Er, what did I do?" Poland asked sheepishly.

"Everything," she replied and with the agility of a cat, she was on him. Poland found himself pinned against the wall with unnatural strength. Belarus was hardly a big girl, yet as he struggled against her, she didn't even budge.

"I, like, haven't done anything!" Poland protested.

"Liar," she whispered. Poland shuddered, the way she said it was just creepy, it would have been better if she'd shouted. "Lithuania wouldn't do something like that on his own, only you'd be so stupid and the only person Lithuania would do something like that for is for you."

"No way!" Poland yelled. Belarus shook him violently, causing him to hit the back of head against the wall. That hurt. "OK, fine, but it was totally his idea." Belarus shook him harder. "Alright, it was my idea."

Belarus smiled triumphantly. "Is that a confession?"

"Why what do you want with it?" Poland asked, still struggling to break free but with no avail.

"When I give you to my boss he will congratulate me on my hard work and forgive my previous failings," she explained.

Poland's eyes widened. "You totally can't do that! What'll he do to me?"

Belarus shrugged, "How should I know and why should I care?"

"H-Help!" Poland shouted but Belarus shook him again.

"Shhhh, we don't anyone to find us now do we?" She hissed at him.

"Did someone call for some help?" A voice asked followed by obnoxious laughter.

Belarus turned and growled under her breath, "Not now."

"Hahaha! Don't fear, Poland, the hero and his friends are here!" America said, hands on hips and striking a dramatic pose, around him stood England, France and Germany.

"The allies," Belarus groaned. "What do you interfering ball suckers want?"

"It's still strange to be called that," Germany mused.

"Would you mean allies or interfering ball sucker?" France asked.

Germany paused, "both."

"I saw Poland was acting super shifty earlier so I formulated a heroic plan to tail him and see what he was hiding, I only pretended to be fooled," America announced.

"You are a fool," England commented.

"What was that for? I've done nothing wrong!" America rounded on him.

France loudly cleared his throat. "Belarus, if you please."

"Yeah, unhand him you foul villainess," America turned his attention back to Poland and Belarus.

Belarus shot daggers at the allies and all four flinched slightly.

"Er, listen, my dear," a clearly flustered England began, "why don't you give Poland to us and we can work out this situation together, no need for things to get ugly now, is there?"

"Did you just say I'm ugly?" Belarus demanded.

"What?! No!"

Germany marched forward, "Listen up! We out number you four to one, there is no hope of you getting out of this as we certainly are not going to just let you go. Do the smart thing and work with us."

Belarus stepped back, unsure what to do, her hands grasped around Poland's throat. "How can I trust you?"

"A hero always keeps his word, I promise," America nodded confidently.

"I-I No!" Belarus screamed and ran off as fast as she could with Poland in tow.

"Stop in the name of justice!" America yelled as he and the other allies took off after her.

* * *

The constant buzzing of a fly was bothering Russia in the otherwise quiet second floor room. He'd been watching it ramming itself against the window glass for a few minutes and he was beginning to tire of its futile attempts to escape.

"Hello little one, I am here to crush you now," he told the fly and rolled up a newspaper in preparation.

He attempted to swot the fly but it took off at the last moment, causing Russia to pursue to tiny insect through the white room. It was where Russia went when he was unhappy, a small room as white as the snowy Siberian wastelands with nothing but an arm chair with a shiny wooden coffee table in the middle to look outside of the window which covered the entire back wall. From it, he could see the forest and beyond that the rolling hills, green in summer and white in winter. It was so relaxing, no one was to disturb him here, except a pesky fly.

"I have you now," Russia pinned the fly back at the window and swiped it. He hit it but had overpowered the shot, he did that a lot, so the whole window was knocked open and Russia nearly tumbled out of it.

He managed to hold on by one hand and one leg staying on the inside of his room while the rest of his body dangled on the outside. "This is uncomfortable," he said to himself as he struggled to hurl himself back inside.

"Mr Russia, sir?" A panicked voice came from below.

Russia looked down and saw a man dressed in winter uniform. "Hello," he greeted the man, "it is a long way down, da?"

"It-it is. Do you require help?"

"You are kind to offer but I will be fine," Russia smiled.

"Well I-I have something for you," the man reached into his coat.

"Is it vodka?" Russia asked eagerly.

"No sir, should we discuss it inside?"

"What is wrong with being out here?"

"Because you're hanging off a building, sir," the man was looking increasingly concerned.

"It is OK. If I fall the snow will cushion the landing," Russia explained.

The man looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it. "This is a report from our people in Belarus." He waved a brown envelope in the air. "I don't know what's inside it, I don't have the clearance, but you should look as soon as you can."

"That is good news."

"What's inside may not be good news," the man muttered darkly.

Russia watched him drop the envelope on the door step, gave Russia one last glance, and trudged off into the distance. The poor man must have walked miles. Russia heaved himself back inside and bounded downstairs to find whatever awaited him in the envelope. It wasn't good news.

* * *

"Get in there and keep quiet!" Belarus hissed at Poland as she tossed him in a bush.

"Ow! There's, like, thorns and stuff here!" Poland whined.

"I will give you something to scream about if you are not shutting up!" Belarus threatened and Poland whimpered and huddled over in the bush and Belarus hopped into the shrubbery next to him.

Belarus had managed to evade the allies until they'd reached the park but she was beginning to run out of breath and she knew that each of them had more endurance than her and they didn't have to carry around a prisoner.

The park seemed like a good place to stop anyway, it had large open spaces with lots of trees and bushes for cover and hiding places. The splashes of colour also appealed to her, flowers of red blue and yellow were dotted in groups and patterns throughout the park and there was something tranquil about the chirping of the birds, even at a time like this.

"Where'd she go?" She heard America's voice, drowning out any bird songs nearby.

Belarus chanced a peak through the bush. All four of them were standing around looking in different directions. America was out in front, posing as if there were a camera, behind him was Germany, calmly walking towards America glancing left and right with a very serious expression, England was combing the floor, as if looking for something and last was France, puffing and slightly red in the cheeks from the run.

"Here he is. I didn't think you could keep up, France. It looks like you've just about proved me wrong, just," England immediately dished out the insults.

"At least, I'm not so out of breath I have to crawl on the floor like the rat you are," France retorted.

"Actually I'm looking for clues, it comes easy when you're as skilled at spying as me," England boasted.

"Enough, both of you!" Germany interrupted before France could respond. "keep our minds on the mission."

England nodded, "they definitely came this way but the trail ends somewhere around here."

"Then we keep looking!" America announced loudly, his fist cured tight as he looked off into the distance. "She's around here somewhere and we must prove that no one escapes from us."

"Right," England agreed.

The allies began to spread out across the area. They started to poke their noses into any wholes and bushes, anywhere someone could hide, France even began to climb a tree. Belarus felt uneasy as she watched Germany getting closer, at this rate they'd find her. She elbowed Poland to try and get him to stop breathing so loudly and give them away.

Poland barely reacted which stuck her as odd as usually he'd flinch or something, most people did. She looked around at Poland and discovered his face frozen in horror, his eyes crossed as they stared at the wasp on his nose. She'd have to get rid of it or else Poland would no doubt do something stupid. She reached over to his face to scare the wasp away. It worked and the wasp fled but as it did so, its legs tickled Poland's nose causing the blond man to sneeze very loudly.

"Hey! Over here!" Germany shouted to the others.

Belarus thumped Poland in a rage and turned to run once more but when she turned around France was standing in her path.

"Bonjour madmazel," France advanced towards them. "If you would care to do this nicely, I have had enough running around for one day."

Belarus stood up straight and growled at the Frenchman but he refused to back down. She turned to her left only to find America blocking her and on her right England was doing the same. She was trapped.

* * *

_**(A/N): I was hoping to pump this out before Christmas but I didn't make it in time, sorry. Still I'm hoping you're enjoying it and I appreciated your support with the follows, favourites and review. You may have noticed that France doesn't speak much French, that is because I don't speak any aside from the little every British school boy is taught when I had to take French (about 7 years ago) and figured that I'd rather avoid using clumsy translation tools which would result in France speaking a broken language**_

_**Anyways thanks for reading!**_


	10. Chapter 10

"Stand back or I slice this dumbass's neck wide open!" Belarus hissed at the allies.

"This is not cool," Poland muttered.

In her desperation Belarus had gone to her last resort. Now she held the knife, her knife she carried with her everywhere, to Poland's throat.

All four of the allies around her were yelling over each other in their attempts to negotiate.

"Last warning, let him go or I will unleash a world of hurt on your ass!"

"I can see that things have risen out of control but there is really no need for violence now, is there?"

"There's no way out girl, negotiate and I shall show mercy."

"H-hey there! You don't need to bring out weapons! I didn't have any with me!"

Belarus turned on the spot facing each of the four in turn, making sure none of them stayed out of her line of sight for too long. But as she faced France, she saw him the most fleeting glance behind her. A moment later her knife arm was being pulled away from her hostage. She kicked and screamed as Poland dashed for safety the moment her grip on him weakened, but it was to no avail as she was being pulled into the air. Her legs flailed uselessly off the ground while she screamed obscenities at the others.

"Be quiet and stop struggling," she heard her captor, Germany, say.

Poland stood panting behind America, shock still etched on his face. "You OK, man?" America put his arm around Poland's shoulder who nodded.

"Aaack eat this!" Belarus shouted as she head butted Germany in the chin.

The large man grunted in pain and Belarus felt his formidable grip slacken. She took the opportunity to elbow the side of his ribs and run.

"Hey, she's getting away again!" America yelled.

"Slippery one, isn't she?" England commented.

"I like a strong determined woman," France smiled.

Belarus stumbled in her desperation to escape but regained her footing in time to dodge America's attempt to grab her. She took off over the grass, earning a few looks from the ordinary people out there. It was a sunny day so the park was busy with dog walkers, children playing games and people relaxing on the grass.

She spared a glance behind her to see where the allies were, she didn't know why she was determined to escape but she couldn't shake the feeling that they couldn't be trusted. No one could be trusted. Lithuania had shown that when he went behind her back with Poland. She looked back to see America get hit by a Frisbee and England curse as he tripped over a small dog. There was no sign of France or Germany; she'd have to keep a look out for them.

She managed to put considerable distance between them now she no longer had to drag Poland around with her. Despite losing him she had at least confirmed her suspicions that whatever crime Lithuania put against her had ultimately been Poland's crimes, Lithuania was just an accomplice. Now if only she could prove that to her boss. Would he just take her word for it?

"Belarus!?" She heard someone call her name in surprise.

In spite of herself she turned to see who it was. A man she didn't recognise was standing in a group. All of them were wearing identical uniforms of her country. "We've been looking for you everywhere," the man said in her language, looking very relived as he spoke.

"You were looking for me?" She asked in disbelief, escaping from the allies forgotten about.

"Yes, of course. We have been searching for quite some time. We received a tip off that we may find you here. You cannot know how happy it makes me, will make all of us, to see you home safe."

"Home… I… am I wanted?" She asked and the man nodded. "I failed with brother and I didn't think… he said in that broadcast that he didn't want me"

"It will be fine," the man reassured her. "The president is under much stress but he would very much like your safe return."

Belarus exhaled to calm herself and then walked towards him.

"Hey, stop!" America yelled from behind.

"She is under our protection now. To violate it is an act of war," the uniformed man responded as Belarus stood next to the group.

"That's bollocks," England complained as he emerged from behind America.

"I should thank the pair of you for leading us to her though," he gave the two allies a smug smile.

England marched forward with fire in his eyes but America held out his arm to stop him. "We gotta let them go, dude."

"Why? The last time someone attacked Poland, I started a world war over it."

"It's not the same and you know it." America turned his attention back toward Belarus and her companions. "You're free to go, for now. But we'll be watching you very closely, understand?"

"Perfectly," Belarus snarled and walked off with her group to go home. If Lithuania hadn't already told them about Poland's role they'd find out soon enough.

* * *

A splash of water jerked Lithuania awake. He'd been asleep in his cell for a few hours, the first time he's slept for more than a few minutes since his imprisonment. The cell was damp, dark and dingy. It came with only the bare essentials of a bed and a bucket for waste and was completely isolated from contact with others. There were no other prisoners around, just a masked guard which rotated every few hours.

This morning, Lithuania assumed it was morning as a lack of sunlight had disorientated him; one of the guards had thrown freezing water over his face from a metal bucket. Lithuania gasped and staggered to his feet. The scene in front of his eyes wouldn't keep still, it tipped to the left and then to the right and then back to the left. What Lithuania did see as he grasped the bars of the cell door for support was the guard tossing the now empty bucket away behind him with a clang.

Lithuania rested his head against the bars and panted for a few seconds feeling the guard's eyes boring into him. "What do you want from me?" Lithuania croaked.

"I am here to help you," the guard said, sounding rather cheerful in contrast the conditions around them.

"Am I supposed to sign some papers to get this help?" Lithuania sighed.

The guard chuckled, "No, I am not with them. I am so glad I have found you, I was so worried."

Lithuania squinted at the man. That voice was starting to sound familiar but no matter how friendly the tone was Lithuania still felt he should be cautious, something about this figure was making him feel uneasy. "Who are you?"

"Oh, I forgot to take off my mask. I can be so forgetful." The man reached up and removed the clothing covering his face and Lithuania darted backwards. "Hello," Russia happily greeted him.

"R-Russia? W-what are doing here?"

"I am here to rescue you. I looked and I looked and here you are," he happily said while brandishing a rusty metal key.

"I-erm-I-er…" Lithuania spluttered. He really wasn't sure what to make of this. He couldn't have wished for anything better than a rescue but he couldn't have been cursed with a worse rescuer. Russia could probably get him out fine but what would happen afterwards? He didn't fancy being indebted to Russia.

"What is matter?" Russia asked, still looking as jolly as ever. "It is like you are wanting to stay here."

"No I don't want that at all," Lithuania protested.

"Then let us be on our way!" Russia unlocked the cell door with a loud and creaky clunk which echoed through the chamber.

"Wait, I need to rest first, you woke me too early," Lithuania made the first excuse which came into his head.

Russia shook his head, "there is no time. But when we are out, you can rest at my house, it will be fun to have company."

Lithuania stifled a squeal of horror. "Why can't I just do it at my own house, Mr Russia, sir?"

"You could but it would make me sad and lonely," Russia shrugged. "Are we leaving now?"

Lithuania took a glance around his cell. "Sure, I don't really want to stay here a moment longer," he resigned himself and stepped out of the cell door.

Russia nodded with approval and clapped Lithuania on the shoulder, causing the smaller country to tremble. "Follow me now and everything will be alright, I promise."

* * *

"I'm not sure this was such a good idea," Germany told the others.

"You're right. It's not a good idea. It's a totally brilliant idea," America laughed.

America, Germany, England and France were camped outside the Belarusian palace. It was inside here that they'd followed Belarus to and America's suspicion that Lithuania was inside.

"Boss man is going to want to keep Lithuania close to him but the first thing he'll want to do after finding Belarus is to speak with her. So we sneak in and get Lithuania out, bam problem solved."

"What if we're discovered?" Germany asked. "It could mean war."

"We have justification," America shrugged. "Attacks on Poland by Belarus and Lithuania by the Government mean we can flash good old article five at them. Let's face it; we'd kick this countries ass any day. If the boss man meets us, I'd say it might be time for a free and fair election in Belarus, don't you agree?"

"That's a regime change!" England raised one large eyebrow.

"Not so loud, Angleterre," France hushed him. "You never know whose ears may be listening."

"So are you guys in or does the hero work alone?"

"Well, I don't think any of us came this far out just to go back again," England sighed. "Very well, just none of you screw this one up."

"Haha, me? I fix problems not create them, England," America winked. "Now we move onwards, for great justice."

* * *

_**(A/N): Relatively short chapter today. Looking at the traffic stats I've noticed a couple of views from Belarus itself which makes me wonder how stories like this are viewed over there. Hope I haven't offended anyone by making it a rather dodgy and shadowy Government.**_

_**Anyway hope you can spare time for a quick review!**_


	11. Chapter 11

Russia was humming to himself as he and Lithuania walked through the corridors. They'd gotten out of what Lithuania could only call a dungeon and now he was surprised by his contrasting surroundings. Everything was bright and calm. The walls were painted white and cream with ornamental tables, covered in lace with a vase of flowers or matryoshka dolls on top of each, were dotted around the building for decoration. What'd he'd considered to be a prison looked more like a mansion with a prison below.

Russia kept a brisk pace through the mansion, however, so Lithuania didn't have much time to admire the beauty. Russia was actually making such a racket between his jolly humming and thunderous footsteps that Lithuania was amazed the guards weren't swarming them. For the briefest of moments Lithuania toyed with the idea of sneaking off and leaving Russia but he knew it would be pointless, even if he escaped from this place by himself, Russia would just come and see him later to ask where he went.

After a few minutes Russia paused and gave a confused 'hmm' sound.

"Is-is something the matter, Mr Russia, sir?" Lithuania asked him.

Russia tilted his head slightly. "I am sure we have been past this door before," he said whilst pointing at one of the many doors.

"Well, I-I'm not sure," Lithuania glanced back to see at least three identical doors behind them.

Russia nodded confidently, "Yes we did. Now we must go back."

Lithuania groaned as Russia led him in the opposite direction. Russia gave him a puzzled glance. Lithuania gave some panicked response which Russia happily accepted without question and they continued.

Lithuania was beginning to notice how quiet it was, aside from Russia. "Where is everyone?" He asked the taller nation as they found themselves on a landing.

"Down there," Russia pointed at a collection of guards in mid conversation. There were around seven or eight of them all tightly packed together.

One of them caught sight of the pair and did a double take in surprise. He blinked once or twice before tapping his colleague on the shoulder, who had the exact same reaction. The conversation died as one by one the guards looked up at them.

Lithuania was now very aware he was still in the same rags he'd been wearing for quite some time. He wanted to run but as long as Russia just stood there it felt like it was all he could do as well.

One the guards reached for his radio and yelled something. In a blur the group sprang into action and simultaneously the alarm bells rang throughout the building.

"Oh dear," Russia said, still not taking the smile off his face.

* * *

"Check is out, dudes. I think this is the boss man's room," America chuckled as he walked across the room.

It was a rather dark room compared to the brightness of the rest of the mansion. It wasn't even a particularly large room but its tone felt different to the other rooms the allies had been in. On the walls were various filing cabinets. The floor was covered in a luxurious purple carpet, in far better condition than anywhere else. In the centre of the room was a single black desk covered in papers, pens, a stamp, a laptop and a lamp with an empty paper bin at the side but the dominant feature of the room was a large portrait of the president of Belarus himself in a dramatic, handsome pose.

"Douche thinks a lot of himself, doesn't he?" America pointed at the portrait.

"Don't your leaders have pictures of themselves?" England asked him.

"Kinda but not like that, you know?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Alright everyone pay attention!" Germany ordered the group. "We can leave no trace we were ever here. Do not touch anything, no finger prints. Don't scratch yourself, especially not your head, it could leave skin flakes or worse, hair, lying around they could track us to. Are any of you listening to me?!"

Germany sighed as he watched his companions shift through all the stuff in the room, leaving their messy finger prints everywhere.

France squinted at a piece of paper then gave it to England. "Can you read this man's name?"

England squinted. "Mr Nawaka….nisk…opinsk…apidosky…."

"We mustn't leave a trace!" Germany repeated as the others tossed paper all over the place.

"Ha, guys!" America shouted from the desk, triumphantly pointing at the laptop. "His password was 'password'."

"Forget it…" Germany mumbled.

"Hey this is labelled 'top secret'!" France waved a sheet of paper in the air.

"Let me see that!" England snatched it from him.

"Hey, I had it first!"

"Well I'm the one reading it now. It could be about my journalist, that was the affair which started this whole mess off." England's eyes scanned the paper and gradually narrowed.

"Haha, this guy is lame. He's got World of Warcraft on here," America snorted.

"France, please read this," England shook the paper at the Frenchman's nose.

"Give me just one moment, you stole it before I had the chance," France grumbled as he took the paper.

"Why what does it say?" Germany asked as he marched over.

France gaped and wordlessly handed the paper to Germany. "Blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda…" Germany scanned it until he hit those critical words.

…_upon retrieval of Belarus, she is to be reprimand for her betrayal. Such treatment might be unpleasant but it is for the best as it will ensure she will never try such foolish behaviour again._

This was followed by a list of torture methods, some of which had ticks of approval next to them. At the bottom was the president's signature.

"Even worse, he's an undead with the horde!" America was saying, gesturing at the computer.

England ignored him. "She's in trouble… what should we do? I mean, I don't particularly want to risk my safety for that psychopath but we can't just sit on this information… Can we?"

"Wait trouble?" America pounced up from the desk. "Who? Where?"

"Read this," Germany passed the sheet over to America who keenly began to look over it.

"Wow," he said once he finished. "Lucky the Belarusian's have been writing to each other in English."

"It is," England agreed. "But I'm still at a loss what to do."

"Is there any question? We rescue her of course!" America said before France or Germany could respond.

"But I don't like her," England grumbled.

"Superman has saved Lex Luthor. Batman has saved the Joker. Spiderman has saved Venom. Wonder Woman has probably saved whoever it is Wonder Woman fights. True heroes save anyone in trouble."

Suddenly an alarm shattered the conversation. "They're onto us!" Germany yelled.

* * *

Belarus smiled slightly at the sight of the entrance hall. She was home and her people were welcoming her back. The whole time she'd been at Lithuania's place she'd been in fear of what the people here would do but as she looked around all the faces who met hers were smiling. She took care not to get emotionally attached to anything besides her brother but now it was one of those rare moments when she was happy.

"We are so pleased to have you back, Miss Belarus," a nearby woman was saying.

Belarus graced her with a nod of acknowledgment. In the middle of the entrance hall was a large marble staircase. She could hear the steps of someone descending towards her. A suited figure with slick black hair walked into view. Her boss. He looked her up and down for a moment, neither one daring to speak, until a grin like the Cheshire cat passed his lips.

"You came back to us," he said quietly. "I knew you would."

"I'm sorry I left." She truly meant it. She'd panicked and thought her boss would hate her for failing yet here he stood with welcoming arms. Perhaps she should have more faith in them.

"I was so worried. I apologise if you caught my broadcast. I was angry and overreacted. I am just so glad you are safe." His words soothed whatever worries she had left. "Now, come with me," he gestured with his finger and she joined him on the staircase.

The staff below dispersed the moment she put her foot on the first step. "Glad to have you back," she heard a man shout to her.

Her boss had a strange look in his eyes as he examined her. He plucked a leaf out of her hair, a souvenir from her trip into the park. "Where have you been?"

Belarus glanced at her dress. It was covered in dirt and twigs. "I… had some problems at a park," she explained.

Her boss nodded and put his arm over her shoulder. He gently led her up the staircase. "I heard that Britain and America were there."

She nodded and allowed herself to be led. "Germany and France too."

He shook his head. "This is grave news. It seems that the West may be making a move on us all. They must believe that this recent… disagreement with Russia makes us weak and open for their exploitation. We must prove them wrong."

Belarus felt her chest tighten at _'disagreement with Russia' _but her boss didn't seem to notice. She suddenly remembered something very important. "Poland," she said as they reached the second floor.

"Hmm?" Her boss looked confused as they walked down the corridor.

"This problem with Lithuania, whatever it is. It was Poland's idea. Lithuania was just his follower," she explained.

"And you know this how?"

"I found Poland and I made him talk," she shrugged.

"I'll look into that, I require more than your word." He paused outside of a door and gestured for her to go inside.

Belarus entered feeling slightly disappointed in his reaction. She'd worked hard for that information, it'd gotten her attacked by the allies for her trouble and yet her boss had shrugged it off.

It was only after a few moments she realised how odd the room was. It clashed horribly with the rest of the house. The darker shades of the room were just the start. It had little light, making the corners pitch black. A single chair stood in the middle of the room, a chair with straps on the armrest. Even the smell was starting to overwhelm her now. It was like the iron in blood. This was a bad place.

She turned to leave but two strong hand grasped her on either side. "What the hell are you doing?" She demanded.

"There must always be a price for abandoning us, Belarus. I hope you understand that this is just as much about setting an example to others as it is about you," her boss was saying but Belarus was too busy thrashing around in the men's arms, men she'd foolishly let go unnoticed until they'd grabbed her, to listen.

A well placed kick in one man's shin caused him to let go of her arm, allowing her to punch the other man in the throat. As the two staggered, she hissed and kicked the first man in the chest, making him collapse. The second man, startled by her strength, paused to give her enough time to come around for a second attack. It didn't take long until both men were down. But her 'boss' was gone.

She stepped out of the room to find the corridors deserted. The coward had ran. Before she'd feared failing him but now she was wondering why she'd feared him at all. All that fear had turned to anger. She'd been betrayed _again._

"Where are you?" She cooed softly as she tip toed through the corridors. "Oh my dear president, are you afraid of me ripping your own balls off and stuffing them-" Belarus's threat was cut off by the ringing of the alarms. Soon they'd be swarming her, her own people. It was tragic really but as long as she got to tear someone's insides out she didn't really care. She was ready.

* * *

_**(A/N): Sooo sorry this took I while. Two reasons 1. Exam season is upon me and a lot of free time is going towards revision (little story Freud's study in my psychology class was set in Austria and I was not able to resist putting "You suck Austria - from Prussia with love" at the bottom of that question. Wonder what the examiner will think of that one...) and 2. My internet is gone. I have to use the connection at my Grandparents to upload this.**_

_**Anyway good? Bad? Neutral? Review?**_


	12. Chapter 12

There was complete confusion in the mansion. People ran left and right, unsure of their duties. Guards ran for weapons while other staff ran for exists and safe zones. No one was sure what was happening, only that they were somehow under attack. Claxon sirens echoed through the building, following everyone no matter where they attempted to seek refuge. In fact the scenes were so chaotic that the four Western nations went relatively undetected.

America, England, France and Germany weaved their way through the panicked crowds. Every door in their path was checked for any sign of Belarus or Lithuania. So far there had been no luck and the allied search was becoming increasingly desperate.

"How about this one?" America asked for the fourteenth time as he opened yet another door, glanced inside then shut it again with a sigh.

England was eyeing the figures dashing past with suspicion. "I'm not willing to stay here much longer, we'll be caught and for what?"

"For freedom!" America declared.

"I am inclined to agree with Angleterre for once. This is dangerous territory," France said nervously, looking over his shoulder as he spoke.

"No man gets left behind," Germany grunted as he violently kicked open another door then snarled with exasperation at the nothingness of interest inside.

"But she's not our man… erm not our woman," England protested.

"I thought we went over this," America rolled his eyes. "Whatever man but Lithuania definitely is on our side."

"Well I can't argue with that but how are we supposed to help Lithuania when we don't know where he is in bloody massive place?" England demanded.

There was a pause before France pointed down the corridor. "Hey, there he is."

Lithuania was sprinting towards them; he apparently hadn't spotted them as he almost ran straight past them. It took Germany grabbing him and holding him in the air with one arm to get the Baltic nation to stop.

Lithuania blinked at Germany in disbelief then glanced around at the other allies and blinked again. "Y-you guys?!"

"Well I'll be…" England muttered.

"Lithuania! How are you, bud?" America greeted him warmly, "yesh, you look and smell like crap, dude."

"Er I'm OK I guess," Lithuania still looked bewildered by their sudden appearance.

"Do not get me wrong or anything, I am very happy to see you but how did you get here?" Germany quizzed.

"Oh, mister Russia broke me out," Lithuania explained.

"R-Russia is here?" England spluttered.

"He was right behind me but I guess he's not any more, how about that?" Lithuania chuckled slightly.

The Allies looked at one another. It went without saying that if Russia was involved things may have gotten even more complicated.

"Lithuania?" Where are you my little friend?" Russia's voice cooed from the direction Lithuania had just come from.

Russia then came bounding into view, blood stains immediately noticeable on his clothes. He had a happy smile on his face which actually grew when he spotted the Allies with Lithuania.

"You all came to help me in my rescue!" Russia happily said. "You are not all as much assholes as a thought!"

"Erm yeah we did!" America fist pumped unconvincingly.

"Good. It is a shame you were no help and let me do everything but it is the thought that counts, da?"

America laughed nervously. "Yeah well we can also help with your sister."

Russia's smile vanished instantly. "What are you meaning? Is there something wrong with Ukraine or Belarus?"

"She's here, Belarus is here," America explained, "but there's some problem and she might be in trouble."

Russia gasped. "This is most terrible news. I will rescue her as well. Thank you for telling me, America."

"It's no biggy, dude," America shrugged.

"You will all help me, right?" Russia turned to look down upon the other nations in front of him.

"O-of course I will."

"How could I say no?"

"You did not even have to ask."

"Yes, Mister Russia."

"Then it is settled then," Russia smiled at his 'friends'.

"Well, we've got Lithuania but how're we supposed to find Belarus?" England asked.

"Oh, if she is here then she will come to us," Russia said.

…

Belarus ambushed another man. She beaten him to a pulp and left him crumpled on the floor. The physical beating not only made her feel good but the fearful reactions of the other people once they found the body gave her a certain ecstasy. She was the predator and they were her prey.

It was only once she'd been fighting, hiding and stalking for a good while that her senses picked up something familiar. Something comforting, warm, something that made her feel happy. She perked up and sniffed the air.

"B-brother Russia?" She sniffed the air again. "It is you! I knew you would come for me!"

She followed the scent through the building, now ignoring everything in her path; thoughts of revenge took second place to thoughts of her brother awaiting her. She'd already began to picture how their meeting would go.

She would see him standing there alone, calling for her. After gazing at him for a moment she would reply. He'd turn and they'd stare at each other for a while before running into each other's arms. He'd whisper things to her about how he had missed her. How hard he had fought for her. How wrong he was before and how it was clear now that they should be wed. Then their lips would meet.

Her nose had led her through endless corridors, down a flight of stairs and beyond. "Brother!" She called. "Where are you?"

"Belarus?" She heard a reply in a voice which made her heart skip a beat.

"Russia!" She squealed and burst through the door from which his voice had emitted.

There he was. From his silver blond hair down to his winter boots, the sight was perfect. He greeted her with a smile warm enough to melt the Siberian wastelands. The only problem was how he wasn't alone.

"Russia? What are these freaks doing here?"

"Charming as ever," England muttered.

"They are helping me to rescue you," her brother replied.

"Why am I disbelieving? All I need is you, brother."

Russia began to look uncomfortable. "I see you have not changed much."

It suddenly occurred to Belarus that the last time they had seen each other was when she'd been holding a knife to his throat, when he'd been helped by _England_ of all people. Maybe that was why her brother was here now with England and the other Allies. Had the situation changed since she'd been away? It hadn't been that long.

"Brother…" She began but was interrupted by a sudden thunderous sound from behind her.

"BELARUS! STEP AWAY FROM THEM!" She turned to see her 'boss'. He was red in the face and looked more like an animal than man. He panted for a few moments before daring to speak again. "You cannot go with them, they scheme and they lie, don't you see what is happening here? They're here to kill me."

"This was never about you. This was about my friend, Lithuania and my little sister of course," Russia replied.

"But look, Belarus, your brother as aligned himself with the West against me, er us. This is betrayal."

His words were meaningless to her now; everything had become so much clearer. His sharp tongue that served him so well had been becoming blunter every day until now it was the pointless drabble of a falling tyrant.

"I think what you were going to do to me may count as betrayal," she coldly told him.

"That was… you must understand… you've overreacted…" he babbled on for a while providing no logical excuses, he may as well have said he was only joking for all the good it would do.

"Oh you should take this," England caught her off guard by actually daring to speak to her. He was holding a letter of some kind. She cautiously snatched it off of the green eyed man and skimmed through it. What she read made her feel quite sick.

"What the hell is this?!" She yelled, her anger rising again. She screwed up the paper and threw it at her 'boss'.

He slowly flattened the paper, hands shaking furiously. After he had read it he gulped loudly. "This is forgery," he croaked. After seeing her disbelief he immediately switched tactics. "Don't you see? He has been looking through classified documents," he pointed a shaking hand at England.

"Dude, you lock up Lithuania and don't expect us to do anything about it," America shook his head.

"I don't care anymore, I want you gone," Belarus snapped.

"G-gone?!" The president spluttered. "You can't do that!"

"I can if I want to," Belarus hissed.

The president rubbed his face. "I didn't want to have to do this," he was saying as he pulled a pistol out of his pocket, "I really didn't. But you are coming back with me and the rest of you are leaving here to never return."

Lithuania squeaked and dived trembling behind Germany. "Nobody panic," Germany announced, "he's a politician. He'll have no idea how to use that thing."

"That makes me more panicked," replied France.

"You threaten my sister," Russia growled.

"She's my property," the broken man replied.

"You make her sad, you make her scared, you make her angry, you even take little Lithuania away. I do not like you very much," Russia was advancing towards him, emitting a sinister aura.

"G-get away from me, you freak."

The two were now face to face when Russia said, "I am going to enjoy hurting you."

Almost everyone present averted their eyes at what followed, everyone but Belarus who simply couldn't look away.

"We should get going," Germany said.

"Agreed," England nodded and the Allies began to vacate the building.

Belarus felt a hand on her should as she watched her brother do horrific things to her former boss. The sudden touch made her flinch and she twisted the arm of whoever just tapped her.

The hand belonged to France who was now whimpering at his twisted arm. She snarled and released him. "Merci," he muttered as he rubbed his arm. "I was just thinking that you should leave too, it is still not safe for you here."

"I will not leave my brother's side," she told him over the screams of her former boss.

"I can respect that but Russia is more than capable of taking care of himself."

"So I can't?" Her eyes flashed dangerously causing France to flinch.

"I-I never meant that."

"Yo, Frenchy, you coming?" They heard America calling.

"On my way," France replied and made to leave.

"Hey France, before you go I have something to ask," Russia called him.

"Oh?" France paused.

"Take Belarus and get her out safe, she means a lot to me."

"What? Brother, I cannot leave you!" Belarus begged.

"It will only be for short while, I can take care of stuff here I promise."

"Err well then, time to go, Belarus," France put his hand on her shoulder again and once again she drew back.

"Do not touch me," she snapped.

England reappeared in the corridor. "Oi snail slurper! What's taking so long?"

"Russia wants us to get the girl out safe," France replied.

"Oh I see the problem," England looked over the seething Belarus. "Germany? Can you get in here?"

"If you lay a finger on me I will gut you both," she snarled.

"Come now, you have my word as a gentleman that no ill shall befall you," England reassured her as Germany marched back in.

"Your word means nothing to me."

It took all three of the European Allies to wrestle Belarus outside, kicking and screaming all the way. England recommended chloroform until France reminded him of his promise. America had been checking up on Lithuania outside and had called up a US helicopter from a Lithuanian airbase to the north. The helicopter was landing just as Belarus, England, France and Germany were nearing and America signalled them over.

Belarus was forced in and had to be restrained during take-off. Once the helicopter left the ground though, she stopped struggling and gave in. She could only think of how her brother could be fighting for his life all alone down there and then her mind wandered to what would happen to her and her people.


	13. Chapter 13

It would be several days before Belarus would hear from Russia again. She'd spent the time living with her sister, who'd break down into tears at every opportunity.

The Allies had checked her over, argued for a bit then decided to send her to live with Ukraine for a while. Belarus had no say in the matter. She was surprised that America, England and France had all visited her though. It wasn't necessarily a pleasant surprise however as Belarus was amazed there were so many vastly different ways of been irritating. Eventually all three had found themselves violently ejected from her presence.

Of course once they'd all left she'd almost miss them as her sister was also incredibly annoying. One moment she'd be overbearingly happy about baking food for them to eat the next she'd be crying about the most trivial things such as a missing sock or a stain on her shirt.

She'd been absentmindedly decapitating teddy bears with the kitchen knife when Ukraine called for her saying that Russia was on the phone and wanted to speak with her. At once her mood changed from contemplating the deaths of everyone else on the planet to that of a love sick schoolgirl as she pelted for the phone. She snatched the phone from Ukraine before the older girl even knew Belarus was there.

"Hello brother," she grinned at the phone.

There was a pause before Russia replied. "Hello Belarus. How are you?"

"So much better now that I have heard from you."

"That is… good. You know there is a reason for me calling here, da?"

"Marriage?"

"NO… I mean… not quite ehe. It is about the changes going on at your home."

"What about them?" She asked feeling slightly disappointed.

"Well I am working on things but some others have gotten involved as well."

"What others?" She snarled with a strong suspicion she knew who.

"Oh America and the rest of Europe…"

Belarus swore loudly, causing Ukraine to jump nearby. "What have they got to do with this? America doesn't even live on the same continent."

"America was there when this started, he helped get you out and now he's giving a lot of aid. It is the same with England and France and Germany."

"Grr and the rest of Europe include who exactly?"

"You know, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Norway, Belgium… the rest of Europe really."

Belarus groaned. "Why are they all needed?"

"Most of them are just politically involving themselves rather than physically."

Belarus paused. "Why would anyone need to be physically involved? Brother, tell me what is happening? Do my people need me?"

Russia seemed reluctant to answer her. "They do not need you yet, sister. For now let other people take care of things for you, da?"

"I can take care of my own things," Belarus growled.

"How is Ukraine? I bet it must be nice to live together again," Russia quickly changed the subject.

Belarus heard a quick intake of breath which didn't sound much like her brother. A quick check of the room told her that Ukraine was probably listening on the line upstairs. She decided it would be easier for her to avoid upsetting her older sister by saying the cruel truth.

"Sister is well. Yes it is nice to be with her again. I care about her a lot," Belarus couldn't mask her lack of enthusiasm but a happy feminine squeal told her Ukraine had bought it.

"That is nice. I would say I wish I was there but I do not as you are both weird," Russia was saying.

"What was that?!" Belarus hissed.

There was another pause. "I said how I wished I could be there with you. It would be nice but weird. Weird because it would be like being children again with just the three of us together, no Baltic states or anyone else."

"I see," Belarus said slowly.

"Have you been visited by anyone yet?"

"America, England and France came over. I guess you know why?"

"Da, I thought so. I wish I could explain more but I cannot. Just know that I am negotiating for you."

"Why can I not negotiate for myself?"

"It is because you are not a big strong country like me or America or England. I am getting tired of questions, Belarus. Do you not trust me?"

This time it was Belarus who paused. "Of course I trust you, brother. You love me and will always do what you think is best for me."

"So why not just let me be getting on with it?"

"…Fine then."

"I have to go now but I will keep in touch, Belarus. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, brother."

Belarus waited for him to hang up first then sighed. She walked back up the stairs with her head hung low. She found Ukraine was awaiting her on the staircase landing with a massive grin.

"Guess what, sister?"

"What is it?" Belarus growled.

"I was listening on the phone and heard what you said!" She jumped up and down happily.

"I was-" she began but was cut off by Ukraine hugging her.

"You do care!"

"Get off of me!" Belarus yelled, because of the height difference the younger sister found herself being smothered by Ukraine's oversized breasts.

"Aww," Ukraine released her then patted her head.

Ukraine was the only person Belarus knew who didn't find her threatening in slightest. Everyone else she'd ever met would cower in fear of her temper but not Ukraine who continued to treat her as nothing more than a stroppy child.

"Leave me alone," she snapped but all Ukraine did was giggle.

"Alright then but I'll be starting dinner soon." Ukraine winked then began to walk downstairs.

"Sister, wait," Belarus called.

"Yes?" Ukraine froze and turned her head.

"Do you know what is happening back in my home? You must do," she pleaded.

"Not much. I'm afraid, I'm being kept in the dark as well," Ukraine admitted.

"Not much? That's still something. Please tell me."

"Only that Russia and the West are in a disagreement as to what happens to you now, I'm sorry I can't say anymore. I suck."

Belarus snorted, "Let's hope brother gives them what for."

Ukraine looked at Belarus with something resembling pity. "I heard what else you were saying on the phone. I'm not surprised but you still trust Russia completely then?"

"With my life," she said proudly.

"I was afraid of that. Belarus, I don't think it is smart to rely upon him too much," Ukraine warned.

"What are you saying? He's our brother!"

"And I will always love him for that, but with Russia love hurts." There was a bizarre darkness crossing Ukraine's face, something Belarus wasn't used to seeing in her elder sister. "He means well, he always does, but things can turn nasty fast whenever he is involved. He doesn't understand his own power sometimes and he doesn't understand how much it can hurt others. Well, either he doesn't understand or he doesn't care. I have to hope he just doesn't understand," Ukraine began to sob quietly. "I should start diner," she said and took off before Belarus could say another word.

* * *

The rest of the evening was spent in awkward silence. Belarus wanted to defend their brother but there were warning bells in her head that this was a touchy subject, there was far more between her older siblings than she'd realised.

"What are you going to do tomorrow, Belarus?" Ukraine asked her when the two were huddled around Ukraine's fireplace in freezing night.

Belarus shrugged, "Behead more bears."

Ukraine gasped, "Not my teddy bears!"

Belarus cringed, "I'll buy you some new ones, just please don't cry."

"Hmm?" Ukraine sniffed and wiped her left eye. "I won't, sorry. I just thought we should do something, you and me."

"Why would I want that?" Belarus rolled her eyes.

"Because that's what sisters do, silly."

"Then let's stop being sisters," Belarus muttered.

Ukraine sighed, "You need to relax."

"How am I sup-" WUMP

Belarus was struck across the head by a cushion Ukraine had pulled off of the nearby sofa.

"How dare you?!" Belarus screeched before being hit again.

Ukraine laughed loudly. "I dare, I dare, lalalala."

"I'll smother you with that thing!" Belarus hissed and pounced on her giggling sister.

Ukraine struggled back against her and proved stronger than Belarus had expected. But eventually Belarus over powered and pinned the older girl down.

"Yield!" Belarus demanded.

"I yield, I yield," Ukraine said through her laughter.

"Good," Belarus huffed and released her, only to feel another thump on the back of her head as soon as she turned away.

"I lied," Ukraine shrugged, a smile edging its way back onto her face.

"This time I won't hold back!" Belarus yelled and pounced again but Ukraine was ready for her this time. Ukraine rolled away from Belarus, causing the younger sister to hit the floor and receive yet another thump on the back of her head.

Before Belarus could recover she felt Ukraine's weight on top of her. "Got you, now you yield," Ukraine giggled.

"I will never give myself up to you!" Belarus shouted.

"Not even if I do this?" Ukraine said as Belarus felt a horrible sensation on the sides of her ribcage. She was being _tickled_.

"Stop it!" Belarus warned as she held back her laughter.

"Stop what?" Ukraine teased.

"T-tickling me hehehahahaha," Belarus inwardly cursed herself as Ukraine cheered in triumph.

"I made you laugh! Ha I actually made you laugh again."

"Well don't get used to it," Belarus snarled.

"You might have to," Ukraine laughed as she began to tickle the helpless Belarus again.

"I s-said haha st-hah-stop it hahaha!" Belarus gasped.

"Then yield," Ukraine said.

"Haha N-no."

"Then get used to this."

Belarus thrashed but Ukraine had the younger sister at her mercy. "I-I yield."

"Really?" Ukraine asked while continuing her onslaught.

"Y-es haha damn i-it yes!"

"Then I release you," Ukraine said as she stood up.

Belarus huffed as she got to her feet. "The nerve," she muttered as she began to walk away. But as she passed the couch a thought crossed her mind. There was another cushion and Ukraine was now watching the fire, paying Belarus little attention.

"Revenge!" Belarus yelled and she thumped Ukraine on the back of her head.

"Hey!" Ukraine turned to face her. "That wasn't fair!"

"You were not fair," Belarus said. "I am not fair." She raised her cushion for another attack as Ukraine reached for her own. "War is not fair," Belarus said as her weapon came down on Ukraine's head. At the same time Ukraine managed to hit Belarus in the thigh.

"So it is a duel you want?" Ukraine asked playfully.

"Only one leaves alive," Belarus replied.

"Then it shall be me!" Ukraine shouted as she stuck Belarus again.

"You will pay for that!" Belarus hissed as she unleashed a fury of attacks which Ukraine repaid in kind.

The two girls battered each other for a long while, by the time Belarus began to gain an upper hand the fire had nearly gone out.

"OK," Ukraine was saying as she fell to the floor. "Enough, I lose."

"That is right, you lose and I win," Belarus said as continued to smack her sister down with the cushion.

"S-stop!" Ukraine said, still laughing, as the cushion came down again.

"Why should I? You never did!" Belarus hit her again.

Ukraine wrapped herself around her sister legs then knocked Belarus to the ground.

"Now we are even, you should have quit while you were ahead," Ukraine smiled.

"Quitting is not in my nature," Belarus replied.

"I noticed."

The two girls sat panting and watching the last remnant of the fire die. Only after an entire hour had passed did Ukraine get to her feet.

"I need to get to bed. Gosh I am tired, thank you for an enjoyable evening sister."

Belarus grunted a reply as Ukraine walked off. "Ukraine?" She suddenly called out.

"What is it? Do you need something?"

"No I was thinking that… I wouldn't mind doing something tomorrow… with you I mean, if it would make you happy."

"Little sister, nothing would make me happier," Ukraine replied then left Belarus alone with her thoughts.

* * *

_**(A/N): I know two chapters at once, aren't you lucky?**_

_**My lack of internet and finishing the January exams actually gave me a bit more time to do this hence two chapters. I would usually wait a bit before posting the next one but as I don't know when I'll be able to go online next I decided to just throw them both on here.**_

_**I kinda enjoyed writing the little bit of sister fluff here, more than I should have.**_

_**Anyways you know the request, reviews would be nice ;D**_


	14. Chapter 14

"This is not what I thought you meant by doing something together, sister," Belarus grunted as she pushed the heavy wheelbarrow along. Not only was it heavy but it stunk, Belarus was sure the stench of the manure she was transporting would stay with her for hours with or without a shower or ten.

"I'm just happy to have an extra pair of hands," Ukraine said as she dug small holes in the ground with her hoe. "We can do something more fun later but I have to get some money first."

"I'm ready to change my mind on this at any moment," Belarus muttered.

Looking at Ukraine now Belarus decided it was one of the few times she envied her sister's choice of clothing. Ukraine's dungarees were far more practical in this situation than Belarus's blue dress. She didn't have many clothes; it was just her dress for the summer, warm clothing for winter and her military uniform for combat.

"Here," Ukraine handed the younger girl a trough, "when you plant the seeds make sure you plant them deep enough so that those horrid birds can't just dig them up straight away."

Belarus uttered curses under her breath but picked up the nearby bag of cabbage seeds and began to plant them in the small holes Ukraine had created anyway.

"I should have known this was a trap," Belarus told her sister after a few minutes of planting cabbage.

Ukraine giggled, "Of course it was. Really I just wanted you for slave labour."

"I knew it," Belarus shook her head, unsure whether she should be angry or amused. "How much longer do we have to do this crap?"

Ukraine shrugged nonchalantly, "until the field is finished."

"T-the whole field?" Belarus gapped. They weren't the only two working but it didn't seem like this handful of workers would be enough to cover a field the size of this, it had to be at least the length of a football pitch.

"It's not as much trouble as it looks, really, all you have to do is work hard and it'll be done in just a few hours."

It was bad enough that Ukraine had awoken her so early in the morning but now she was forcing Belarus to work long and hard for such little reward. It was tempting to throw everything down and storm off but that would be accepting defeat, something Belarus didn't take lightly. Besides if Ukraine did this as often as she claimed then Belarus should easily be able to handle it.

A few hours in though, it was taking its toll. Belarus could feel her muscles aching and her own will eroding but still Ukraine kept working. It was obvious that her back was giving the poor girl trouble, no matter how hard she tried not to show it. Belarus had to admire her sister's determination; it was a side of her which Belarus wasn't used to seeing. She'd become used to ditzy, cry-baby, dotting Ukraine not someone working their hands bloody to scrape a few coins so there could be bread on the table that night.

Belarus was interrupted from her thoughts by her sister's voice asking if she needed a break.

"I am fine," Belarus snapped, not wanting to look weak.

"Well I need one, you can keep working if you'd like," Ukraine dropped her tools on the ground in front of her and then rubbed her back with a groan as she trotted off towards a wooden bench.

Belarus looked from the trough in her dirty hands to her sister's retreating figure and sighed. After planting one more seed to prove she was better than Ukraine, she followed Ukraine across the field.

By the time she got there Ukraine was speaking to the owner of the field. The girl was bouncing and jiggling up and down, squealing with happiness as she did so.

"Did you hear that, sister?" Ukraine asked happily.

"Hear what?" Belarus looked up at the tall bearded owner.

"Because this is one of the few times we can spend together, he's graciously given us the rest of the day off with full pay," Ukraine clapped her hands together in joy while the field owner nodded with a smile.

"Great," Belarus said dully. "Where's our money?" She turned to the field owner who used his eyes to signal to Ukraine.

Ukraine tapped her chest, "I've got the check here."

"Ok then, where is my money?" She rephrased the question.

The field owner's eyes narrowed slightly and Ukraine scratched the back of her neck nervously.

"Ehehe, funny. Let's go now," Ukraine grabbed Belarus's hand and pulled her away.

"What are you doing?" Belarus hissed but Ukraine continued to hush her until they were out of the man's range of hearing.

"Sorry but you're not being paid. I'm really, really sorry but I said to him I'd do this and I wasn't expecting you and I… and I… and when he saw you I couldn't just… you know… I wasn't going to… I'm sorry, I suck, I know that." Ukraine babbled on for a while longer, attempting to excuse herself.

Belarus sighed and crossed her arms. "Fine," she huffed, "I don't care about the money as long as you stop crying."

"I wasn't crying," Ukraine tried to look nonchalant but even as she spoke she quickly rubbed her eye. "Anyway now we have some spare coin we can do something, get a drink or go shopping or something like that."

"Shopping? Give me field," Belarus groaned.

"Don't be like that, it'll be fun," Ukraine dismissed her with a hand wave. "But first I really need to sit down," Ukraine said softly as she suddenly collapsed on the floor leaving Belarus in stunned shock.

* * *

"And this is Besarabsky Market," Ukraine was saying.

"Wonderful," Belarus replied unenthusiastically.

Once Ukraine and Belarus had recovered fully from their work Ukraine had taken the younger sister to Kiev itself. It was certainly different to where Belarus was staying. The way Ukraine seemed to live made the whole country look like a remote wasteland. Kiev was quite different from all that.

The current market they were in was bustling with life. All over the place people were queuing at the little stalls to buy a variety of goods, from cheeses to carpets and anything in-between. It certainly was an odd selection.

"Let me know if you see anything you'd like, my gift to you," Ukraine was saying as they wandered through the markets.

Belarus toyed with the idea of getting more stuffed animals to mutilate, it had been far more fun than she'd admit, but she couldn't see anything of the sort nearby. If only she could buy her brother's love.

Belarus paused in shock. This had been the first time she'd thought about Russia since yesterday and now it was past midday. How could this be? Surely the love of her life must be in her thoughts of every moment of every day.

"Erm… Hellooo?" Ukraine's hand waved in front of Belarus snapping her back to Earth.

"What?" Belarus snapped.

"You kinda zoned out while I was trying to show you this," Ukraine was holding an eerily life like doll. "Isn't it cute?"

"No," Belarus replied.

Ukraine stifled a giggle at her sister's bluntness as she put the doll back at the nearby stall. The stall's owner gave a polite nod which Ukraine returned before turning back to her sister. "So where would you like to go?"

"Wherever Russia is," she replied.

Ukraine rolled her eyes. "You know what I meant, silly."

"Don't call me that," Belarus warned.

"Silly-Billy," Ukraine teased with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and cheeky grin on her lips.

Just as Belarus felt herself about to snap Ukraine's features fell and Belarus felt a shadow fall on her.

"Oh, I wasn't expecting-" Ukraine was saying before she was cut off.

"Neither was I, I was just nearby and saw the pair of you and thought I should say hello," a man with a deep German accent was saying from behind her.

Oh no, it couldn't be him. Not here and now. Belarus turned and faced the tall, muscular blond man. "You!?" Belarus growled at him.

"So this is me, saying 'Hello', I guess," Germany ignored her.

"Hello," Ukraine replied.

"Uh-huh," Germany nodded.

Belarus just stared up at him. It went on like this for a few agonising seconds before Germany coughed awkwardly.

"So what are you doing here?" Germany asked them.

Ukraine poked Belarus to encourage her to answer. When the girl didn't Ukraine piped up instead, "this is my capital city. I'm just taking my younger sister for a visit."

"That makes sense, I hope you're having fun," Germany said.

"Of course it makes sense," Belarus lashed out, causing several people nearby to turn to look at her. "What doesn't make sense is what you're doing in Ukraine's capital?"

"Me? Oh, I was just looking for," Germany's eyes flashed over to the nearest stall, "dolls."

"Er dolls?" Ukraine repeated in surprise.

Germany seemed to be kicking himself internally. "Yes, I cannot find the ones I like anywhere at home and thought I'd try here."

"Since when do you have dolls?" Ukraine's lips were beginning to part into a smile.

"It is… my secret hobby, please don't tell anyone," Germany pleaded.

"Hmm, I just thought you might have been getting them for someone else," Ukraine grinned.

"Yes, that would have been much less embarrassing, aha," Germany rubbed his forehead and avoided meeting either of their eyes.

"I don't buy it," Belarus said after letting Germany swim in his embarrassment for a little while.

"But I..." Germany tried to explain but Belarus shot him down with her glare. "Fine, I was looking for you, both of you."

"Yeah, I thought so. What do you want with us?" Belarus snarled.

Germany flinched slightly, "it's just that tomorrow something important is happening. I decided you should know in person, so you understand its importance, that you should be at the meeting hall by thirteen hundred hours local time tomorrow."

"is that both of us?" Ukraine asked.

"Just Belarus is needed but I'd strongly recommend you being there as well," Germany responded.

"Then I'll be there," Ukraine looked worriedly from Belarus to Germany who nodded with approval.

"Are you actually going to tell me what this crap is about?" Belarus leaned over to Germany.

"It's about you," he said simply.

Belarus blinked, "what's this all got to do with you? Why do you need a meeting on me? I can sort myself out."

"The last time we didn't intervene you got yourself in a rather large mess," the blond growled. "Not too worry, we're not planning to attack you or anything like that."

"I don't trust you," Belarus hissed.

"You don't have to," Germany shrugged. "As long as you're there."

"Why should I play along with the games of Westerners?"

"Oh, it's not just us. Russia will be there too," Germany knew this was her weakness and it seems he knew how to exploit it.

Belarus was too proud to say anything else to the German but she slowly nodded with agreement.

"Good, this was a pleasure," Germany said, making no effort to hide the fact it was clearly not a pleasure.

"Erm, bye," Ukraine waved as he disappeared into the crowds.

"You shouldn't be so friendly with _him_," Belarus warned her sister.

"But I can't join Europe if Germany doesn't like me," Ukraine protested.

"Then don't join Europe, its headed down the crapper anyway."

Ukraine didn't want to start this argument again, it was one she'd had plenty of times with both Belarus and Russia. She simply led Belarus back into the market place and squealed at the next adorable thing which caught her eye.

* * *

**_(A/N): Hey again! Internet is back! Huzzah! Huzzah! Not only can I check my E-mails, watch youtube ect but I can put on the next part of this story! Hope it's alright! Hope I'm not overusing exclamation marks in this note!_**


	15. Chapter 15

"There!" Ukraine finished making the final touches to the bow on Belarus's head. "You look so pretty," she simpered.

"Why are you fussing so much?" Belarus took in her reflection from the mirror opposite. She could only look at herself briefly before Ukraine stepped in front of her again.

"I just think we should extra nice today," Ukraine was saying as she looked Belarus up and down.

Belarus didn't really see much difference to her appearance than usual but Ukraine seemed pleased so there must be some change she hadn't picked up on.

"Perfect," Ukraine said softly as she brushed a loose strand of hair from Belarus's forehead.

"Are we done here?" Belarus sighed.

"I think so," Ukraine eyes scanned her sister once more before she nodded with approval. Ukraine then spared a glance at her own reflection and made a quick adjustment to the straw hat she'd decided to wear today. "Yes, we're ready," Ukraine said as she held out her hand for Belarus.

Belarus instead barged the older girl out of the way as she made for the door.

* * *

Belarus wasn't very talkative on the way to the meeting. Someone there, whether it was Russia or anyone else they didn't know, had fixed them up with a car for transport. Ukraine kept trying to engage Belarus in conversation but the most Belarus would grace her with would be 'yes' or 'no'. Eventually Ukraine had gotten the message and shut up, for the most part. Every now and then she'd be humming little tunes or suddenly look very sad then switch to being happy again.

The driver, who'd been even less chatty than Belarus pulled over and signalled for them to leave. Ukraine gave her thanks while Belarus marched out. In front of her was the meeting place. It was just as large and foreboding as ever, surrounded by flags of all colours. She scanned the various flag poles and found comfort when she spotted her own. The last time she'd been here was when England had tried to intimidate her now she was back to face him again in circumstances she was completely in the dark about.

Belarus snapped back to attention at Ukraine's voice behind her. "I'll back you up in there as best I can," she said kindly.

Belarus muttered a thank you and led the way towards the entrance. Despite it being an international building it reeked of Western influence. Everything about it felt foreign, the carpets, the decorations, the wall paper down to the architecture. The meeting place had been designed and built by England at the end of the 19th century and it showed both the times and the creator. While nations like America and France may find it familiar enough it was still unfamiliar to her after all the times she'd been here.

She followed the sounds of voices towards one of the rooms made for groups of over five but less than ten. Pausing outside the door to put her ear to it, she could clearly hear the voice of her brother among others inside. Now with a mad smile she slowly opened the door, complete with a loud creak and the room fell silent.

"There you are, Russia," she said in her most pleasant sing-song tone as she poked her head through the door.

Russia whimpered slightly and France coughed loudly. "There she is, it's our favorite little psycho," America waved, seemingly uncomfortable.

Ukraine appeared behind Belarus and opened the door fully. "May we come in?" She asked sweetly and America gestured towards a pair of empty seats.

Belarus sat next to Russia, who inched his chair slightly away from her while Ukraine sat on her other side. "Shall we get down to business?" England shuffled through some notes in front of him.

"First tell me why I'm even here," Belarus demanded.

England glanced up from the papers. "Deciding just what we're going to do with you."

"Why? What's going on at my home?" She growled causing a chill to spread across the room.

England cleared his throat then glanced at the others. "Does anyone else want to explain this?" Nobody else did. "Very well I suppose we'll get started straight away but good to see you both." Ukraine smiled at him but the Brit didn't seem to notice. England cleared his throat again and continued. "Your president was killed and this left political chaos. He'd spent so long engineering the system to grant more powers for himself there was no one to take over his position after he'd deemed anyone suitable enough as a potential rival and had them removed. He'd taken direct control of the military and the courts as well. Basically there was no Government left and both the police and military were clueless on what to do next. Some groups of liberals, anarchists, communists, fascists and reactionaries took to the streets demanding change suiting them, some peacefully but others not so peacefully. Then less ideologically inclined individuals joined in as an excuse to riot."

"I knew something was wrong," Belarus shook her head. "Why did you not do something?" She turned to Russia.

"He did," England replied grimly. "Russia, oh so helpfully, decided to send in a relatively small amount of troops to calm the situation. All that did was make anti-Russian groups fear it was an invasion or a coup, something which would allow Russia to extend his influence further."

"What?" Belarus gapped.

"I was trying to help, really," Russia said sheepishly.

"Why would there be anti-Russian groups in my country?" Belarus asked in shock.

"Maybe it's because some of your people are actually intelligent?" England snarked but his smugness faltered under the stare of both Russia and Belarus.

"I'll take it from here, buddy," America slapped England on the back. "I saw how bad this situation could get so I pulled some strings and long story short; I managed to get a peacekeeping force assigned there right away! Things have cooled down mostly so this meetings all about the next step."

"How kind of you to invite me to this one," Belarus said coldly.

"You're welcome," America replied cheerfully, completely missing the point.

"This 'peacekeeping force' of yours, are they Americans?" Belarus fixed her glare on America.

"Well, some but not all of them, most of them aren't," America gave a flustered explanation.

"If I may?" Germany, who'd been quiet until now raised his hand. America nodded and Germany stood while pushing up the unnecessary 'I'm so smart' glasses he wore to meetings such as these. "Most of the peacekeepers come from neighbouring countries, mostly Poland and Lithuania, as we felt it would seem to be less like a foreign intervention."

"Poland and Lithuania," Belarus sighed. Those two were back again and there something else about the use of them as opposed to Ukrainians or Russians. "So this is a NATO operation?"

America, Germany, England and France looked slightly taken back. Russia gave her a sideward glance, "Da, I was most unhappy but there is not much I could do."

Belarus seethed; she'd practically been invaded without knowing it. It took all her self-control to stop herself hacking America's head off right now. It seemed to be showing as everyone except Ukraine was slowly moving away from her.

"So, er, what were some ideas about what to do next? You guys must have had some," Ukraine asked in an attempt to move the conversation along.

"Well almost all Russian forces have left already and if the situation continues to be calm then the rest of us shall leave in due time," England explained, "It's what happens afterwards that concerns us."

"What happens afterwards?" Belarus hissed.

"That's the point," England shrugged, "we simply don't know."

"Of course we do!" America interjected. "Democracy just like mine! You have this separation of powers, see, where the President and the Senate and the Supreme Courts are all equal-"

Belarus cut him off by slamming her fist onto the table. "There is no way I am basing anything in my country on _that idiot_, especially his ineffective, foolish Government."

America sighed, "Well then, I guess if you want some kinda weird ass sub-democracy like England has that'll be OK too."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" England turned to face America. "I'll have you know I was a democracy before you were even discovered!"

"Yeah but it's not _real _democracy, not everyone could vote and you don't even elect everyone in Government," America countered.

"Excuse me?! Who allowed ethnic minorities to vote first between the two of us? Me! Who let women vote first between the two of us? Me!" England began to rant and rave, increasingly off topic.

"You're living in the past, England, get with the times," America scoffed.

"You don't get it do you? I don't want anything to do with you people," Belarus snarled.

"How about something like mine?" Russia interjected.

"I would love that!" Belarus's attitude switching completely at her brother's idea.

"Yours still seems to have problems…" England muttered whilst glaring at Russia.

Russia blinked in surprise. "Are you saying something about me?"

"Are you saying something about him?" Belarus repeated with a much more hostile tone.

"Me? Of course not," England rolled his eyes.

"The two are close enough that it would possibly work to base her system off of his," Germany agreed. "I thought this would be the case from the beginning."

"It's… uh, still democracy though, right?" America glanced around.

"In theory it's a democratic, federal, republican state," England explained.

"So, yes?" America asked.

"Sure, it's close enough and the best result I could expect," England sighed heavily. "So we have your agreement on what to establish?"

"If it's what Russia has, I want it," Belarus replied quickly and grabbed her brother's arm so tight that Russia made an odd 'squee' noise.

"Very well," England nodded at Germany who began to scribble something onto one of his sheets of paper. "Then there's you."

"What about me?"

"Everyone is in agreement that you are weird and crazy," Russia said bluntly, if it were anyone else she would've slugged them around the face for that. "so if put into harsh situation like this you may find it a little too much on your already strained mind."

Belarus blinked at her brother. He seemed to only just realise he had said something wrong.

"What I'm sure Russia is trying to say is that we don't want to put unnecessary on you," England attempted to salvage the situation.

"So we need to keep an eye on you just to make sure you don't do anything wrong," America continued.

"I'd be willing to watch her for a while longer," Ukraine offered but the allies shook their heads.

"We need a real close eye on this one," America replied.

"I am not some child to be looked after and treated as though I am not even in the room," Belarus hissed. "Tell them, brother."

"Belarus is a strong girl, I think she will be fine," Russia told them as Belarus nodded furiously.

"It's not her I'm concerned about," England responded through gritted teeth.

"So I'm dangerous now?" Belarus asked, already knowing the answer.

"it was barely a week ago you held a knife to Poland's throat, I'd say yes," England stared her out, her dark blue eyes fighting his light green ones for dominance.

"She needs to relax, times like these can be stressful and I found a place that melted my stresses, of which there were many, away," Germany looked at the others.

"Hold on there, I am not thinking this is being very fair on my sister," Russia stood up suddenly. "She did not ask for your 'help'."

"All we need is each other, brother," she stood by him in agreement.

"Hm?" Russia turned to her with a quizzing expression.

She seized the arm of his winter coat and leaned in close to him. "We can last together by each other's side for ever and ever **and ever**."

Russia gulped loudly and suddenly dashed for the exit. He was gone quicker than Belarus had seen him move for a long time but not before he'd screamed "SHE'S YOURS!"

"W-wait brother, you must not have understood me," Belarus attempted to run after him but someone pulled her arm back.

"He's already gone, girl," Germany told her.

Belarus stood panting, staring at the doorway for a while believing that any moment Russia would walk back in. He didn't. "How-how could he?" Belarus said softly. "He loves me."

Ukraine gently took her hand and with a sympathetic look led her back to the table where the Allies sat.

"Now what was that totally amazing place you had in mind Germany?" America asked.

Belarus zoned out for the rest of the meeting, she'd barely taken notice when England lashed out at France for not saying anything the entire time, she simply let the Allies do what they wanted. With Russia apparently abandoning her side she didn't have the willpower to fight back.

* * *

_**(A/N): I was really hoping to get this done by Monday but suddenly a massive work load was dumped on me so sorry about that. last chapter I got a whopping 0 reviews. Let's see if this does better (you don't have to review if you can't think of anything to say, I'm the same).**_


	16. Chapter 16

"Why? Why did you agree to this?!" Came a mumbled voice from the next room.

"B-because Germany asked me, I just want to impress him."

"What about me, huh? Do you care about that potato loving bastard more than your own flesh and blood?!"

"I'm scared too, Romano but what can we do?"

"Get her out! That's what!" A series of thumping noises told Belarus the younger Italian brother was being shaken against the wall.

"B-but Romano, I promised Germany I'd do this for him!"

"Then he doesn't care about our lives! That's what I've been saying all along! He wants us dead and this is his way of doing it! By putting a mad killer woman in our house!"

"Germany wouldn't do that!" There was a pause. "Is she really a killer?"

"I heard she cuts her victims up and bakes them into horrible Eastern European foods!"

"I-I-I'm scared, Romano!"

"So am I! We're going to die and it's all your fault!"

"It's my fault?"

"It's your fault!"

"It's my fault!"

Belarus growled under her breath. She'd been trying out some gymnastics in a large relatively empty room to take her mind off of things but Dumb and Dumber hadn't shut up the entire time. Italy. This was Germany's idea to help her relax. It was nice weather, she'd admit that but she'd refused to leave the house, even if that were her best hope of escape, as the Allies would simply track her down again. Besides Italy's house was actually nice, he'd covered it in paintings he'd done as a child which were actually impressive and he had an eye for interior decorating. It was a shame his personality, and his brother's, was far less impressive. Her 'hosts' had actually made her miss Ukraine now. Her older sister was whiny but had nothing on these two clowns who also seemed to believe their walls were sound proof when they quite clearly weren't.

Belarus had heard enough of their terrified, mumbled voices wondering what horrific methods she would use to kill them, all of which sounded appealing to her right now, so she stormed over to shut them up, their voices clearer as she drew nearer.

"We should call Germany for help!"

"Bullshit! He left us in this mess! No, we should call Spain."

"But Spain isn't as strong as Germany now."

"Hey! Don't you bad mouth Spain!"

Belarus burst in on their conversation causing both to yell in fright.

"Chigiiii!" Romano screamed as he dived behind his brother for a shield.

Romano wouldn't even look at her but at least Italy would put on an unconvincing smile as he visibly trembled. "H-h-hi there, Miss Belarus."

"You two," she hissed and both flinched, "you make too much noise. I can hear every word."

What little colour was in their faces drained.

"It was all him, I swear!" Romano buried his face further behind his brother but still pointed at Italy.

"Ve~ I didn't mean any of it!" Italy begged.

Belarus was sure that tears were forming in his eyes, it was a pathetic sight. Although a delightful thought entered her head, maybe she could have some _fun _here.

"I suppose I may be able to forgive this," Belarus said coldly.

"Y-you will?" Both brothers looked immensely relieved.

"If we can play a game," she sneered.

Italy's expression brightened up but Romano remained cautious.

"Yay~ I love games!" Italy cheered.

"It's a trap! Don't trust her!" Romano began to make more warnings but faltered under Belarus's gaze.

"What game do you want to play, Miss Belarus?" Italy hopped from one foot to the other in excitement.

"How about hide and seek?"

"Ho-ray! I love that game!" Italy clapped his hands together.

"Good because I'm giving the both of you time to run and hide. If I find you, hell will break loose!"

Italy's face suddenly fell and Romano began to tremble again. "D-damn it! Why won't m-my damn legs m-move?" Romano babbled.

Italy screamed and dragged his older brother away, who immediately told him that he didn't need Italy's help and how he could take care of himself.

Belarus smiled to herself, perhaps staying here wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

Unfortunately her game was cut short after only a couple of hours of chasing the Italian brothers through the house as Germany came to see how they were all doing after, not unjustly, picturing Belarus torturing the two Italians. He'd been carrying a bag full of shopping which had fallen to the floor the moment the two brothers ran for his protection.

"You must cease this behaviour this instance!" Germany had demanded as the two brothers cowered behind him.

"I-I knew you'd come save me, Germany!"

"Why'd y-you take so long, potato bastard?"

Belarus sighed and pouted like a child caught staying up late. "Why do you have to spoil all the fun?"

"I knew this was a mistake," Germany muttered, burying his face in his hands.

"Th-then why'd you do it to us, huh?" Romano demanded.

Germany growled and marched up to the undaunted Belarus. "Listen up! This place is where I first learnt to relax and become the calm person I am today!" Germany shouted in her face like a drill sergeant causing her hair to blow slightly. "So we're going to do something relaxing!" Germany looked over at the Italians, "Erm, what should that be, exactly?"

Romano huffed and folded his arms defiantly but Italy excitedly threw his hands in the air and babbled on about eating out for pasta, visiting Grandpa Rome's ruins, eating out for pasta, taking a gondola ride, eating out for pasta, renaissance art and eating out for pasta.

"I do not want to do any of those things," Belarus told them bluntly.

"Good, leave us alone," Romano replied, equally blunt.

"Where is big brother?"

"This again?" Germany groaned.

"I need to know where he is, these two wouldn't tell me."

"Eh? We-we told you all we knew, I swear!" Italy begged. Belarus had to admit his bizarre mood swings were really something and this is coming from someone who grew up with Ukraine!

"Russia is fine. I saw him not long ago," Germany grunted.

"Did he mention me? He must feel terrible."

Germany coughed. "Sure," he said unconvincingly.

"I must see him now," Belarus made to leave but Germany blocked her path.

"I-Italian wine! Try some!" Germany dived into the shopping bag then practically smashed her in the face with a bottle of wine. "It's wunderbar, really."

"I do not like wine, too soft, give me vodka any day," Belarus attempted to swot Germany away.

"I brought plenty of other Italian food which I enjoyed," Germany shuffled through the bag. "Wait! Where's my panettone? WHERE'S MY PANETTONE?!" Germany looked at each of them in turn then back to the bag with a snarl of "Prussia…"

"Er, if you want one I could bake one, Germany," Italy said happily.

"You would?" Italy nodded. "Ah, danke."

"Ho-ray!" Italy cheered and ran off to the kitchen.

"Kiss-ass," Romano shook his head.

"You," Germany pointed at Belarus, "you can help Italy bake."

Romano gasped. "Are you actually as bone dead, retard, stupid as you look? You'd put her with the _knives_?"

"Ag, fine. The Mediterranean sun is out. We'll eat out there and it'll be damn right relaxing!"

What followed was potentially the most awkward picnic Belarus had had the displeasure of taking part in.

She was sitting slightly further away from the others with Germany blocking her from the two Italies. Romano was clearly only there to keep an eye on everyone else (especially her), Germany was struggling to keep this strange 'I'm happy and relaxed' persona going while Italy seemed torn between the happiness of spending more time with Germany and Romano but being petrified of Belarus skinning and eating him at any moment. Germany had brought a collection of foods with him and as it turned out Italy had made more than just panettone in the kitchen so they'd had plenty of foods and high quality ones at that. They just spent the time in Italy's backyard with the impressive views of the rolling green hills in front of them.

"Hey, Germany?"

"Ja?"

"That cloud is shaped like Japan!"

"Oh, yeah. That's pretty cool, I guess."

"I wonder where Japan is now," Italy continued to gaze up at the clouds.

"Probably hunting whales or being a doormat to America, that bastard," Romano snorted.

"Now, now, that is not a very pleasant thing to say, Romano," a fourth voice scolded.

Belarus turned and repressed a heavy sigh, another fool for the party. Japan, in his casual dark purple Asian-dress-thing Belarus didn't know much about, was here holding a gift basket.

"Japan!" Italy leapt to his feet to join Japan and went to embrace him.

Japan cringed, "please, I am still not entirely comfortable with excessive holding of one another but please accept my earnest appreciation of this gesture of friendship."

"Leave him alone, sushi loving, anime watching, bastard," Romano growled.

"Ah yes Romano, I have taken the time to collect some of the tomatoes you love so much," Japan said as he opened his gift basket.

"Hey, they're sun dried!" Romano snatched them from the basket before Japan said anything more.

"You are very welcome," Japan bowed slightly.

"Oh, oh! What did you get me Japan?!" Italy bounced up and down in childish excitement.

"Pasta. I know I can do no wrong with it," Japan chuckled as Italy squealed with delight.

"Japan, you should have mentioned you were coming," Germany shook the man's hand.

"It was really quite spontaneous actually," Japan bowed again. "I must apologise, I was not aware you were in the company of a woman."

Belarus growled and got to her feet. "I'm not here by choice."

"I see. I honestly did not expect you to be," Japan admitted, "although it does beg the question of why you are here."

"I've been kidnapped," she replied.

"Not by Italy?"

"Are you being serious?" Belarus gaped.

"I had to check," Japan shrugged.

"I said she needed to come here to relax. So far she has been most unwilling," Germany glared at her, Belarus simply glared back.

"Mr Germany," Japan shook his head in disbelief, "you cannot simply instruct someone to relax, especially not Belarus. These things will take time, they will happen naturally and only when she is ready."

Belarus snorted, "I will relax once I am with Russia and I know my people are safe."

"We can find relaxation in spite of other concerns, you know. If there is nothing that can be done I do not see the point in worrying about them," Japan said as he began to pick up the remnants of the picnic. "Perhaps you'd care to help me?"

"Are you asking me?" Belarus blinked.

"Well, the others seem busy right now," Japan gestured his head towards Germany, Italy and Romano who were now squabbling over shares.

"I suppose if it gets me away from them for a while longer," Belarus sighed.

Japan didn't speak again until they were inside. He'd been scrapping the leftovers into the bin when he quietly chuckled.

"What are you laughing at?" Belarus demanded, suddenly feeling rather self-conscious.

"It is just my friends," Japan pointed out the window which had a good view of Italy jumping onto Germany's back.

"They're weird," Belarus dismissed them.

"Agreed," Japan said with a hint of amusement, "and I find it most enjoyable. I too was daunted by such bizarre customs. I had to learn how other people thought from Mr Netherlands, America, Mr England and those two outside. It does grow on you."

"I'm sure," Belarus replied dryly and retreated upstairs to her own guest room without a backward glance.


End file.
